Chapter 3

1Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild beasts that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say: You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?” 2The woman replied to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the other trees of the garden. 3It is only about fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said: ‘You shall not eat of it or touch it, lest you die.’” 4And the serpent said to the woman, “You are not going to die, 5but God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like adivine beings who know good and bad.” 6When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating and a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate. 7Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they perceived that they were naked; and they sewed together fig leaves and made themselves loincloths. 8They heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of day; and the man and his wife hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9The LORD God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10He replied, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” 11Then He asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat of the tree from which I had forbidden you to eat?” 12The man said, “The woman You put at my side—she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” 13And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done!” The woman replied, “The serpent duped me, and I ate.” 14Then the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you did this, More cursed shall you be Than all cattle And all the wild beasts: On your belly shall you crawl And dirt shall you eat All the days of your life. 15I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your offspring and hers; They shall strike at your head, And you shall strike at their heel.”

16And to the woman He said, “I will make most severe Your pangs in childbearing; In pain shall you bear children. Yet your urge shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”

17To Adam He said, “Because you did as your wife said and ate of the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ Cursed be the ground because of you; By toil shall you eat of it All the days of your life: 18Thorns and thistles shall it sprout for you. But your food shall be the grasses of the field; 19By the sweat of your brow Shall you get bread to eat, Until you return to the ground— For from it you were taken. For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.” 20The man named his wife Eve,b because she was the mother of all the living.c 21And the LORD God made garments of skins for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

22And the LORD God said, “Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and bad, what if he should stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever!” 23So the LORD God banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the soil from which he was taken. 24He drove the man out, and stationed east of the garden of Eden the cherubim and the fiery ever-turning sword, to guard the way to the tree of life.