The Fall of Mankind

3 Now ^(A)the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” ² The woman said to the serpent, “^(B)From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; ³ but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” ^4 (C)The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die! ⁵ For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and ^(D)you will ^[a]become like God, knowing good and evil.” ^6 (E)When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they ^(F)knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves waist coverings.

⁸ Now they heard the sound of ^(G)the Lord God walking in the garden in the ^[b]cool of the day, ^(H)and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “^(I)Where are you?” ¹⁰ He said, “^(J)I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.” ¹¹ And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?” ^12 (K)The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me some of the fruit of the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” And the woman said, “^(L)The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” ¹⁴ Then the Lord God said to the serpent,

¹⁶ To the woman He said,

¹⁷ Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;

²⁰ Now the man named his wife ^[j](W)Eve, because she was the mother of all the living. ²¹ And the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

²² Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of ^(X)Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out with his hand, and take fruit also from ^(Y)the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— ²³ therefore the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ So ^(Z)He drove the man out; and at the ^(AA)east of the Garden of Eden He stationed the ^(AB)cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to ^(AC)the tree of life.

³ Jesus responded and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone ^(A)is born ^[a]again he cannot see ^(B)the kingdom of God.”

¹⁰ as it is written:

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the ^(G)Law says, it speaks to ^(H)those who are ^[c]under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and ^(I)all the world may become accountable to God; ²⁰ because ^(J)by the works ^[d]of the Law ^[e]none of mankind will be justified in His sight; for ^[f](K)through the Law comes ^[g]knowledge of sin.

Justification by Faith

²¹ But now apart ^[h]from the Law ^(L)the righteousness of God has been revealed, being ^(M)witnessed by the ^[i]Law and the Prophets, ²² but it is the ^(N)righteousness of God through ^(O)faith ^(P)in Jesus Christ for ^(Q)all those ^[j]who believe; for ^(R)there is no distinction, ²³ for all ^[k](S)have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

¹² Therefore, just as through ^(A)one man sin entered into the world, and ^(B)death through sin, and ^(C)so death spread to all mankind, because all sinned— ¹³ for ^[a]until the Law sin was in the world, but ^(D)sin is not ^[b]counted against anyone when there is no law. ¹⁴ Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned ^(E)in the likeness of the ^[c]violation committed by Adam, who is a ^[d](F)type of Him who was to come.

¹⁵ But ^[e]the gracious gift is not like the offense. For if by the offense of ^(G)the one ^(H)the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by ^(I)the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many. ¹⁶ The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand ^(J)the judgment arose from one offense, ^[f]resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the gracious gift arose from many offenses, ^[g]resulting in justification. ¹⁷ For if by the offense of the one, death reigned ^(K)through the one, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness ^(L)reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

¹⁸ So then, as through ^(M)one offense ^[h]the result was condemnation to all mankind, so also through one ^(N)act of righteousness ^[i]the result was ^(O)justification of life to all mankind. ¹⁹ For as through the one man’s disobedience ^(P)the many ^(Q)were made sinners, so also through ^(R)the obedience of the One ^(S)the many will be made righteous. ^20 [j](T)The Law came in so that the offense would increase; but where sin increased, ^(U)grace abounded all the more, ²¹ so that, as ^(V)sin reigned in death, so also ^(W)grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.