²⁶ Then God said, ^(A)“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; ^(B)let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over ^[a]all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷ So God created man ^(C)in His own image; in the image of God He created him; ^(D)male and female He created them. ²⁸ Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ^(E)“Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and ^(F)subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that ^[b]moves on the earth.”

The Temptation and Fall of Man^(A)

3 Now ^(B)the serpent was ^(C)more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”

² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the ^(D)fruit of the trees of the garden; ³ but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you ^(E)touch it, lest you die.’ ”

^4 (F)Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶ So when the woman ^(G)saw that the tree was good for food, that it was ^[a]pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit ^(H)and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, ^(I)and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves ^[b]coverings.

⁸ And they heard ^(J)the ^[c]sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the ^[d]cool of the day, and Adam and his wife ^(K)hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

⁹ Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, ^(L)and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

¹¹ And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”

¹² Then the man said, ^(M)“The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

¹³ And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, ^(N)“The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴ So the Lord God said to the serpent:

^21 (A)For from within, out of the heart of men, ^(B)proceed evil thoughts, ^(C)adulteries, ^(D)fornications, murders, ²² thefts, ^(E)covetousness, wickedness, ^(F)deceit, ^(G)lewdness, an evil eye, ^(H)blasphemy, ^(I)pride, foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within and defile a man.”

³ Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, ^(A)unless one is born ^[a]again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

⁴ Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, ^(B)unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

⁴² Jesus said to them, ^(A)“If God were your Father, you would love Me, for ^(B)I proceeded forth and came from God; ^(C)nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. ^43 (D)Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. ^44 (E)You are of your father the devil, and the ^(F)desires of your father you want to ^(G)do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and ^(H)does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

²³ for ^(A)all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Death in Adam, Life in Christ^(A)

¹² Therefore, just as ^(B)through one man sin entered the world, and ^(C)death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—

¹⁸ For I know that ^(A)in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.