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.

Jacob’s Deception

27 Now it came about, when Isaac was old and ^(A)his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his ^(B)older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” ² Then ^[a](C)Isaac said, “Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death. ³ Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and ^(D)hunt game for me; ⁴ and prepare a delicious meal for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that ^(E)my soul may bless you before I die.”

⁵ Now Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home, ^6 (F)Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying, ⁷ ‘Bring me some game and prepare a delicious meal for me, so that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’ ⁸ So now, my son, ^(G)listen to ^[b]me ^[c]as I command you. ⁹ Go now to the flock and ^[d]bring me two choice ^[e]young goats from there, so that I may prepare them as a delicious meal for your father, such as he loves. ¹⁰ Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.” ¹¹ But Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “Behold, my brother Esau is a ^(H)hairy man and I am a smooth man. ^12 (I)Perhaps my father will touch me, then I will be like a ^[f]deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.” ¹³ But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only ^(J)obey my voice, and go, get the goats for me.” ¹⁴ So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made a delicious meal such as his father loved. ¹⁵ Then Rebekah took the ^[g]best ^(K)garments of her elder son Esau, which were with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob. ¹⁶ And she put the skins of the ^[h]young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. ¹⁷ She also gave the delicious meal and the bread which she had made ^[i]to her son Jacob.

¹⁸ Then he came to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” ¹⁹ Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. ^(L)Come now, sit and eat of my game, so that ^[j](M)you may bless me.” ²⁰ Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “^(N)Because the Lord your God made it ^[k]come to me.” ²¹ Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come close, so that ^(O)I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” ²² So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, and he touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ²³ And he did not recognize him, because his hands were ^(P)hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. ²⁴ And he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.” ²⁵ So he said, “Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that ^[l](Q)I may bless you.” And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank. ²⁶ Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come close and kiss me, my son.” ²⁷ So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he ^(R)blessed him and said,

The Stolen Blessing

³⁰ Now it came about, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of his father Isaac, that his brother Esau came in from his hunting. ³¹ Then he also made a delicious meal, and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, “^(AA)Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that ^[m](AB)you may bless me.” ³² His father Isaac said to him, “^(AC)Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, ^(AD)your firstborn, Esau.” ³³ Then Isaac ^[n]trembled violently, and said, “^(AE)Who then was he who hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate from all of it before you came, and blessed him? ^(AF)Yes, and he shall be blessed.” ³⁴ When Esau heard the words of his father, ^(AG)he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, me as well, my father!” ³⁵ And he said, “^(AH)Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.” ³⁶ Then Esau said, “^[o]Is he not rightly named ^(AI)[p]Jacob, for he has betrayed me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” ³⁷ But Isaac replied to Esau, “Behold, I have made him ^(AJ)your master, and I have given to him all his relatives ^[q]as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. What then can I do for you, my son?” ³⁸ Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, me as well, my father.” So Esau raised his voice and ^(AK)wept.

³⁹ Then ^(AL)his father Isaac answered and said to him,

Avoid Israel’s Mistakes

10 For ^(A)I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all ^(B)under the cloud and they all ^(C)passed through the sea; ² and they all were ^(D)baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; ³ and they all ^(E)ate the same spiritual food, ⁴ and all ^(F)drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was ^[a]Christ. ⁵ Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased; for their dead bodies were ^(G)spread out in the wilderness.

⁶ Now these things happened as ^(H)examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as ^(I)they indeed craved them. ⁷ Do not be ^(J)idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: “^(K)The people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to ^(L)play.” ⁸ Nor are we to commit sexual immorality, as ^(M)some of them ^[b]did, and ^(N)twenty-three thousand fell in one day. ⁹ Nor are we to put the Lord to the test, as ^(O)some of them ^[c]did, and were killed by the snakes. ¹⁰ Nor ^(P)grumble, as some of them ^[d]did, and ^(Q)were killed by the ^(R)destroyer. ¹¹ Now these things happened to them as an ^(S)example, and ^(T)they were written for our instruction, upon whom ^(U)the ends of the ages have come. ¹² Therefore let the one who ^(V)thinks he stands watch out that he does not fall. ¹³ No temptation has overtaken you except something common to mankind; and ^(W)God is faithful, ^[e]so He will not allow you to be ^(X)tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

¹⁴ Therefore, my ^(Y)beloved, flee from ^(Z)idolatry. ¹⁵ I speak as to wise people; you then, judge what I say. ¹⁶ Is the ^(AA)cup of blessing which we bless not a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is the ^(AB)bread which we break not a sharing in the body of Christ? ¹⁷ Since there is one loaf, we ^(AC)who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one loaf. ¹⁸ Look at ^[f]the people of ^(AD)Israel; are those who ^(AE)eat the sacrifices not partners in the altar? ¹⁹ What do I mean then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or ^(AF)that an idol is ^[g]anything? ²⁰ No, but I say that things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they ^(AG)sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become partners with demons. ^21 (AH)You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and ^(AI)the table of demons. ²² Or do we ^(AJ)provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not ^(AK)stronger than He, are we?

^23 (AL)All things are permitted, but not all things are of benefit. All things are permitted, but not all things ^[h](AM)build people up. ²⁴ No one is to ^(AN)seek his own advantage, but rather that of his ^[i]neighbor.

The Body Is the Lord’s

^12 (A)All things are permitted for me, but not all things are of benefit. All things are permitted for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. ^13 (B)Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, however God will ^(C)do away with both ^[a]of them. But the body is not for sexual immorality, but ^(D)for the Lord, and ^(E)the Lord is for the body. ¹⁴ Now God has not only ^(F)raised the Lord, but ^(G)will also raise us up through His power. ^15 (H)Do you not know that ^(I)your bodies are parts of Christ? Shall I then take away the parts of Christ and make them parts of a prostitute? ^[b](J)Far from it! ¹⁶ Or ^(K)do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “^(L)The two shall become one flesh.” ¹⁷ But the one who joins himself to the Lord is ^(M)one spirit with Him. ^18 (N)Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the ^[c]sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or ^(O)do you not know that ^(P)your body is a ^[d]temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from ^[e]God, and that ^(Q)you are not your own? ²⁰ For ^(R)you have been bought for a price: therefore glorify God in ^(S)your body.