Genesis 2:4-4:26

English Standard Version

The Creation of Man and Woman

⁵ When no ^(B)bush of the field^[a] was yet in the land^[b] and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man ^(C)to work the ground, ⁶ and a mist^[c] was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— ⁷ then the Lord God formed the man of ^(D)dust from the ground and ^(E)breathed into his ^(F)nostrils the breath of life, and ^(G)the man became a living creature. ⁸ And the Lord God planted a ^(H)garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. ⁹ And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. ^(I)The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, ^(J)and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰ A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. ¹¹ The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of ^(K)Havilah, where there is gold. ¹² And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. ¹³ The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴ And the name of the third river is the ^(L)Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵ The Lord God took the man ^(M)and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ^(N)you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat^[d] of it you ^(O)shall surely die.”

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; ^(P)I will make him a helper fit for^[e] him.” ^19 (Q)Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed^[f] every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and ^(R)brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam^[g] there was not found a helper fit for him. ²¹ So the Lord God caused a ^(S)deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²² And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made^[h] into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³ Then the man said,

^24 (V)Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ²⁵ And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

The Fall

3 Now ^(W)the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You^[j] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³ but God said, ^(X)‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” ^4 (Y)But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵ For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶ So 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 to be desired to make one wise,^[k] she took of its fruit ^(Z)and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, ^(AA)and he ate. ^7 (AB)Then the eyes of both were opened, ^(AC)and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

⁸ And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool^[l] of the day, and the man and his wife ^(AD)hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”^{[m] 10} And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, ^(AE)because I was naked, and I hid myself.” ¹¹ He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹² The man said, ^(AF)“The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, ^(AG)“The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴ The Lord God said to the serpent,

¹⁶ To the woman he said,

¹⁷ And to Adam he said,

²⁰ The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.^{[p] 21} And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

²² Then the Lord God said, ^(AS)“Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand ^(AT)and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” ²³ therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden ^(AU)to work the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the ^(AV)cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Cain and Abel

4 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten^[q] a man with the help of the Lord.” ² And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. ³ In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of ^(AW)the fruit of the ground, ⁴ and Abel also brought of ^(AX)the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord ^(AY)had regard for Abel and his offering, ⁵ but ^(AZ)for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. ⁶ The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? ^7 (BA)If you do well, will you not be accepted?^[r] And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. ^(BB)Its desire is contrary to^[s] you, but you must rule over it.”

⁸ Cain spoke to Abel his brother.^[t] And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and ^(BC)killed him. ⁹ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, ^(BD)“I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?” ¹⁰ And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood ^(BE)is crying to me from the ground. ¹¹ And now ^(BF)you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. ¹² When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” ¹³ Cain said to the Lord, “My ^(BG)punishment is greater than I can bear.^{[u] 14} Behold, ^(BH)you have driven me today away from the ground, and ^(BI)from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, ^(BJ)and whoever finds me will kill me.” ¹⁵ Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him ^(BK)sevenfold.” And the Lord ^(BL)put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. ¹⁶ Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod,^[v] east of Eden.

¹⁷ Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. ¹⁸ To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech. ¹⁹ And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. ²⁰ Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. ²¹ His brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. ²² Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

²³ Lamech said to his wives:

²⁵ And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed^[w] for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” ²⁶ To ^(BN)Seth also a son was born, and he called his name ^(BO)Enosh. At that time people began ^(BP)to call upon the name of the Lord.