3 Now the serpent was more subtle and crafty than any living creature of the field which the Lord God had made. And he [Satan] said to the woman, Can it really be that God has said, You shall not eat from every tree of the garden?^(A)

² And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat the fruit from the trees of the garden,

³ Except the fruit from the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.

⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die,^(B)

⁵ For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil and blessing and calamity.

⁶ And when the woman saw that the tree was good (suitable, pleasant) for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate.

⁷ Then the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves apronlike girdles.

⁸ And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

⁹ But the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, Where are you?

¹⁰ He said, I heard the sound of You [walking] in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.

¹¹ And He said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?

¹² And the man said, The woman whom You gave to be with me—she gave me [fruit] from the tree, and I ate.

¹³ And the Lord God said to the woman, What is this you have done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled (cheated, outwitted, and deceived) me, and I ate.

¹⁴ And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed above all [domestic] animals and above every [wild] living thing of the field; upon your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust [and what it contains] all the days of your life.

¹⁵ And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her ^[a]Offspring; He will bruise and tread your head underfoot, and you will lie in wait and bruise His heel.^(C)

¹⁶ To the woman He said, I will greatly multiply your grief and your suffering in pregnancy and the pangs of childbearing; with spasms of distress you will bring forth children. Yet your desire and craving will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.

¹⁷ And to Adam He said, Because you have listened and given heed to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it, the ground is under a curse because of you; in sorrow and toil shall you eat [of the fruits] of it all the days of your life.

¹⁸ Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field.

¹⁹ In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you shall return.

²⁰ The man called his wife’s name Eve [life spring], because she was the mother of all the living.

²¹ For Adam also and for his wife the Lord God made long coats (tunics) of skins and clothed them.

²² And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of Us [the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit], to know [how to distinguish between] good and evil and blessing and calamity; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live ^[b]forever—

²³ Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.

²⁴ So [God] drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden the ^[c]cherubim and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep and guard the way to the tree of life.^(D)

4 And Adam knew Eve as his wife, and she became pregnant and bore Cain; and she said, I have gotten and gained a man with the help of the Lord.

² And [next] she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

³ And in the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground.

⁴ And Abel brought of the firstborn of his flock and of the fat portions. And the Lord had respect and regard for Abel and for his offering,^(E)

⁵ But for ^[d]Cain and his offering He had no respect or regard. So Cain was exceedingly angry and indignant, and he looked sad and depressed.

⁶ And the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? And why do you look sad and depressed and dejected?

⁷ If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.

⁸ And Cain said to his brother, ^[e]Let us go out to the field. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.^(F)

⁹ And the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? And he said, 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 is crying to Me from the ground.

¹¹ And now you are cursed by reason of the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s [shed] blood from your hand.

¹² When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength; you shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth [in perpetual exile, a degraded outcast].

¹³ Then Cain said to the Lord, My punishment is ^[f]greater than I can bear.

¹⁴ Behold, You have driven me out this day from the face of the land, and from Your face I will be hidden; and I will be a fugitive and a vagabond and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.

¹⁵ And the Lord said to him, ^[g]Therefore, if anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a ^[h]mark or sign upon Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him.

¹⁶ So Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod [wandering], east of Eden.

¹⁷ And Cain’s wife [one of Adam’s offspring] became pregnant and bore Enoch; and Cain built a ^[i]city and named it after his son Enoch.

¹⁸ To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael the father of Methusael, and Methusael the father of Lamech.

¹⁹ And Lamech took two wives; the name of the one was Adah and of the other was Zillah.

²⁰ Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have cattle and purchase possessions.

²¹ His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe.

²² Zillah bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all [cutting] instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

²³ Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say; for I have slain a man [merely] for wounding me, and a young man [only] for striking and bruising me.

²⁴ If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech [will be avenged] seventy-sevenfold.

²⁵ And Adam’s wife again became pregnant, and she bore a son and called his name Seth. For God, she said, has appointed for me another child instead of Abel, for Cain slew him.

²⁶ And to Seth also a son was born, whom he named Enosh. At that time men began to call [upon God] by the name of the Lord.

¹³ Now after they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, Get up! [^[a]Tenderly] take unto you the young Child and His mother and flee to Egypt; and remain there till I tell you [otherwise], for Herod intends to search for the Child in order to destroy Him.

¹⁴ And having risen, he took the Child and His mother by night and withdrew to Egypt

¹⁵ And remained there until Herod’s death. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, Out of Egypt have I called My Son.^(A)

¹⁶ Then Herod, when he realized that he had been misled by the wise men, was furiously enraged, and he sent and put to death all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that territory who were two years old and under, reckoning according to the date which he had investigated diligently and had learned exactly from the wise men.

¹⁷ Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah:

¹⁸ A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they were no more.^(B)

¹⁹ But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt

²⁰ And said, Rise, [^[b]tenderly] take unto you the Child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the Child’s life are dead.

²¹ Then he awoke and arose and [^[c]tenderly] took the Child and His mother and came into the land of Israel.

²² But because he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in the place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being divinely warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee.

²³ He went and dwelt in a town called Nazareth, so that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled: He shall be called a Nazarene [Branch, Separated One].^(C)

3 In those days there appeared John the Baptist, preaching in the Wilderness (Desert) of Judea

² And saying, Repent (^[d]think differently; change your mind, regretting your sins and changing your conduct), for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

³ This is he who was mentioned by the prophet Isaiah when he said, The voice of one crying in the wilderness (shouting in the desert), Prepare the road for the Lord, make His highways straight (level, ^[e]direct).^(D)

⁴ This same John’s garments were made of camel’s hair, and he wore a leather girdle about his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.^(E)

⁵ Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the country round about the Jordan went out to him;

⁶ And they were baptized in the Jordan by him, confessing their sins.

Psalm 2

¹ Why do the nations assemble with commotion [uproar and confusion of voices], and why do the people imagine (meditate upon and devise) an empty scheme?

² The kings of the earth take their places; the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and His Anointed One (the Messiah, the Christ). They say,^(A)

³ Let us break Their bands [of restraint] asunder and cast Their cords [of control] from us.

⁴ He Who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord has them in derision [and in supreme contempt He mocks them].

⁵ He speaks to them in His deep anger and troubles (terrifies and confounds) them in His displeasure and fury, saying,

⁶ Yet have I anointed (installed and placed) My King [firmly] on My holy hill of Zion.

⁷ I will declare the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, You are My Son; this day [I declare] I have begotten You.^(B)

⁸ Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations as Your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth as Your possession.

⁹ You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them in pieces like potters’ ware.^(C)

¹⁰ Now therefore, O you kings, act wisely; be instructed and warned, O you rulers of the earth.

¹¹ Serve the Lord with reverent awe and worshipful fear; rejoice and be in high spirits with trembling [lest you displease Him].

¹² Kiss the Son [pay homage to Him in purity], lest He be angry and you perish in the way, for soon shall His wrath be kindled. O blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are all those who seek refuge and put their trust in Him!

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⁷ The reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord is the beginning and the principal and choice part of knowledge [its starting point and its essence]; but fools despise skillful and godly Wisdom, instruction, and discipline.^(A)

⁸ My son, hear the instruction of your father; reject not nor forsake the teaching of your mother.

⁹ For they are a [victor’s] chaplet (garland) of grace upon your head and chains and pendants [of gold worn by kings] for your neck.

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