The Fall

3 Now ^(A)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^[a] 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, ^(B)‘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 (C)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,^[b] she took of its fruit ^(D)and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, ^(E)and he ate. ^7 (F)Then the eyes of both were opened, ^(G)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^[c] of the day, and the man and his wife ^(H)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?”^{[d] 10} And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, ^(I)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, ^(J)“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, ^(K)“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.^{[g] 21} And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

²² Then the Lord God said, ^(W)“Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand ^(X)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 ^(Y)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 ^(Z)cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

God's Wrath on Unrighteousness

¹⁸ For ^(A)the wrath of God ^(B)is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. ¹⁹ For what can be ^(C)known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, ^(D)have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world,^[a] in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they ^(E)became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ^22 (F)Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and ^(G)exchanged the glory of ^(H)the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

²⁴ Therefore ^(I)God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to ^(J)the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, ²⁵ because they exchanged the truth about God for ^(K)a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, ^(L)who is blessed forever! Amen.

²⁶ For this reason ^(M)God gave them up to ^(N)dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; ²⁷ and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, ^(O)men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

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

Death in Adam, Life in Christ

¹² Therefore, just as ^(A)sin came into the world through one man, and ^(B)death through sin, and ^(C)so death spread to all men^[a] because ^(D)all sinned—

¹⁴ Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not ^(A)like the transgression of Adam, ^(B)who was a type of ^(C)the one who was to come.

^23 (A)For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

By Grace Through Faith

2 ^(A)And you were ^(B)dead in the trespasses and sins ^2 (C)in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following ^(D)the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in ^(E)the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in ^(F)the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body^[a] and the mind, and ^(G)were by nature ^(H)children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.^[b]