Genesis 3

The Serpent and the Tree

1The serpent was more shrewd than any wild animal the LORD God had made. It said to the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?” 2The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the garden's trees. 3But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’”

4“You certainly will not die,” the serpent told the woman. 5“God knows that when you eat it, your eyes will open, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6The woman saw that the tree was good for food, a delight to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. She took its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. 7Then both their eyes opened, and they realized they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

The Human Pair before God

8They heard the LORD God walking in the garden in the day's breeze. The human and his wife hid among the garden's trees, away from the LORD God.

9The LORD God called to the human, “Where are you?” 10He answered, “I heard you in the garden. I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”

11God asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree I commanded you not to eat from?”

12The human answered, “The woman you gave to be with me—she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.”

13The LORD God asked the woman, “What have you done?” She answered, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Words of Consequence

14The LORD God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
you are cursed beyond all livestock
and all wild animals.
You will move on your belly
and eat dust all your life. 15I will put hostility between you and the woman,
between your offspring and hers.
Her offspring will strike your head,
and you will strike their heel.”

16To the woman God said,
“I will greatly increase your pain in pregnancy;
in pain you will bear children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you.”

17To the human God said,
“Because you listened to your wife
and ate from the tree
I commanded you not to eat from,
the ground is cursed because of you.
Through painful labor you will eat from it
all the days of your life. 18It will grow thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field. 19By the sweat of your face you will eat bread
until you return to the ground,
for you were taken from it.
You are dust,
and to dust you will return.”

Clothing and Expulsion

20The human named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. 21The LORD God made garments of skin for the human and his wife and clothed them.

22The LORD God said, “Look, the human has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out and take fruit from the tree of life too, and eat and live forever—” 23So the LORD God sent the human out of the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24God drove the human out and stationed the cherubim east of the garden of Eden, along with a flaming sword turning in every direction, to guard the way to the tree of life.