The Fall

3 Now the serpent^(A) was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?^(B)”

² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,^{(C) 3} but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”^(D)

⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.^{(E) 5} “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,^(F) knowing good and evil.”

⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable^(G) for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband,^(H) who was with her, and he ate it.^{(I) 7} Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked;^(J) so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.^(K)

⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking^(L) in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid^(M) from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”^(N)

¹⁰ He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid^(O) because I was naked;^(P) so I hid.”

¹¹ And he said, “Who told you that you were naked?^(Q) Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?^(R)”

¹² The man said, “The woman you put here with me^(S)—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

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

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

¹⁴ So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

¹⁶ To the woman he said,

¹⁷ To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’^(AB)

²⁰ Adam^[c] named his wife Eve,^[d](AL) because she would become the mother of all the living.

²¹ The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.^{(AM) 22} And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us,^(AN) knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life^(AO) and eat, and live forever.” ²³ So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden^(AP) to work the ground^(AQ) from which he had been taken. ²⁴ After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side^[e] of the Garden of Eden^(AR) cherubim^(AS) and a flaming sword^(AT) flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.^(AU)

² One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof^(A) of the palace. From the roof he saw^(B) a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, ³ and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba,^(C) the daughter of Eliam^(D) and the wife of Uriah^(E) the Hittite.” ⁴ Then David sent messengers to get her.^(F) She came to him, and he slept^(G) with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.)^(H) Then she went back home. ⁵ The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

Peter Disowns Jesus^(A)

⁶⁹ Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him. “You also were with Jesus of Galilee,” she said.

⁷⁰ But he denied it before them all. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

⁷¹ Then he went out to the gateway, where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.”

⁷² He denied it again, with an oath: “I don’t know the man!”

⁷³ After a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said, “Surely you are one of them; your accent gives you away.”

⁷⁴ Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!”

Immediately a rooster crowed. ⁷⁵ Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.”^(B) And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Living Godly Lives in a Pagan Society

¹¹ Dear friends,^(A) I urge you, as foreigners and exiles,^(B) to abstain from sinful desires,^(C) which wage war against your soul.^(D)

⁸ Be alert and of sober mind.^(A) Your enemy the devil prowls around^(B) like a roaring lion^(C) looking for someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him,^(D) standing firm in the faith,^(E) because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.^(F)