Genesis 3
Lexham English Bible
The Fall
3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal[a] which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God indeed say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, 3 but from the tree that is in the midst of the garden, God said, ‘You shall not eat from it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die’.” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You shall not surely die. 5 For God knows that on the day you both eat from it, then your eyes will be opened and you both shall be like gods,[b] knowing good and evil.” 6 When[c] the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes, and the tree was desirable to make one wise, then[d] she took from its fruit and she ate. And she gave it also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then[e] the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed together fig leaves and they made for themselves coverings.
8 Then[f] they heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden at the windy time of day.[g] And the man[h] and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden. 9 And Yahweh God called to the man[i] and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he replied,[j] “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid because I am naked, so I hid myself.” 11 Then he[k] asked,[l] “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I forbade you to eat?”[m] 12 And the man[n] replied,[o] “The woman whom you gave to be with me—she gave to me from the tree and I ate.” 13 Then[p] Yahweh God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 Then[q] Yahweh God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
you will be cursed
more than any domesticated animal
and more than any wild animal.[r]
On your belly you shall go
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put hostility
between you and between the woman,
and between your offspring[s] and between her offspring;[t]
he will strike you on the head,
and you will strike him on the heel.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will greatly increase
your pain in childbearing;[u]
in pain you shall bear children.
And to your husband shall be your desire.
And he shall rule over you.”
17 And to Adam[v] he said, “Because you listened to the voice of your wife and you ate from the tree from which I forbade you to eat,[w]
the ground shall be cursed on your account.
In pain you shall eat from it
all the days of your life.
18 And thorns and thistles shall sprout for you,
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow[x]
you shall eat bread,
until your return to the ground.
For from it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
20 And the man[y] named[z] his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all life. 21 And Yahweh God made for Adam[aa] and for his wife garments of skin, and he clothed them.
22 And Yahweh God said, “Look—the man has become as one of us, to know good and evil. What if[ab] he stretches out his hand and takes also from the tree of life and eats, and lives forever?” 23 And Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So[ac] he drove the man out, and placed cherubim east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming, turning sword[ad] to guard the way to the tree of life.
Footnotes
- Genesis 3:1 Literally “animal of the field”
- Genesis 3:5 The plural is in the context of v. 22 “one of us” and the plural suffix pronouns [[“you all”]] throughout the verse
- Genesis 3:6 Or “And”
- Genesis 3:6 Or “and”
- Genesis 3:7 Or “And”
- Genesis 3:8 Or “And”
- Genesis 3:8 Literally “at the wind of the day”
- Genesis 3:8 “The man” indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
- Genesis 3:9 “The man” indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
- Genesis 3:10 Literally “And he said”; “replied” distinguishes Adam as the speaker
- Genesis 3:11 That is, Yahweh God
- Genesis 3:11 Or “said”
- Genesis 3:11 Literally “the tree which I commanded to not eat from it”
- Genesis 3:12 “The man” indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
- Genesis 3:12 Or “said”
- Genesis 3:13 Or “And”
- Genesis 3:14 Or “And”
- Genesis 3:14 Literally “animal of the earth/land”
- Genesis 3:15 Literally “seed”
- Genesis 3:15 Literally “seed”
- Genesis 3:16 Literally “your pain and your childbearing”
- Genesis 3:17 The noun lacks the definite article and is taken as a proper noun in this context
- Genesis 3:17 Literally “from the tree which I commanded saying not to eat from it”
- Genesis 3:19 Literally “your face”
- Genesis 3:20 “The man” indicates the noun is singular and occurs with the definite article
- Genesis 3:20 Literally “called the name”
- Genesis 3:21 The noun lacks the definite article and is taken as a proper noun in this context
- Genesis 3:22 Literally “And now lest”
- Genesis 3:24 Or “And”
- Genesis 3:24 Literally “a flame of the sword which was turning”
Genesis 3
Common English Bible
Knowledge, not eternal life
3 The snake was the most intelligent[a] of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say that you shouldn’t eat from any tree in the garden?”
2 The woman said to the snake, “We may eat the fruit of the garden’s trees 3 but not the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. God said, ‘Don’t eat from it, and don’t touch it, or you will die.’”
4 The snake said to the woman, “You won’t die! 5 God knows that on the day you eat from it, you will see clearly and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 The woman saw that the tree was beautiful with delicious food and that the tree would provide wisdom, so she took some of its fruit and ate it, and also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then they both saw clearly and knew that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made garments for themselves.
8 During that day’s cool evening breeze, they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden; and the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God in the middle of the garden’s trees. 9 The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
10 The man[b] replied, “I heard your sound in the garden; I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree, which I commanded you not to eat?”
12 The man said, “The woman you gave me, she gave me some fruit[c] from the tree, and I ate.”
13 The Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?!”
And the woman said, “The snake tricked me, and I ate.”
14 The Lord God said to the snake,
“Because you did this,
you are the one cursed
out of all the farm animals,
out of all the wild animals.
On your belly you will crawl,
and dust you will eat
every day of your life.
15 I will put contempt
between you and the woman,
between your offspring and hers.
They will strike your head,
but you will strike at their heels.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will make your pregnancy very painful;
in pain you will bear children.
You will desire your husband,
but he will rule over you.”
17 To the man he said, “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and you ate from the tree that I commanded, ‘Don’t eat from it,’
cursed is the fertile land because of you;
in pain you will eat from it
every day of your life.
18 Weeds and thistles will grow for you,
even as you eat the field’s plants;
19 by the sweat of your face you will eat bread—
until you return to the fertile land,
since from it you were taken;
you are soil,
to the soil you will return.”
20 The man named his wife Eve[d] because she is the mother of everyone who lives. 21 The Lord God made the man and his wife leather clothes and dressed them. 22 The Lord God said, “The human being[e] has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.” Now, so he doesn’t stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever, 23 the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to farm the fertile land from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the human. To the east of the garden of Eden, he stationed winged creatures wielding flaming swords to guard the way to the tree of life.
Footnotes
- Genesis 3:1 Heb sounds like naked.
- Genesis 3:10 Or He
- Genesis 3:12 Heb lacks some fruit.
- Genesis 3:20 Heb sounds like live.
- Genesis 3:22 Or man (Heb adam)
Genesis 3
The Message
3 The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: “Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?”
2-3 The Woman said to the serpent, “Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. It’s only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘Don’t eat from it; don’t even touch it or you’ll die.’”
4-5 The serpent told the Woman, “You won’t die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you’ll see what’s really going on. You’ll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil.”
6 When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it—she’d know everything!—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate.
7 Immediately the two of them did “see what’s really going on”—saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together as makeshift clothes for themselves.
8 When they heard the sound of God strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, the Man and his Wife hid in the trees of the garden, hid from God.
9 God called to the Man: “Where are you?”
10 He said, “I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid.”
11 God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from that tree I told you not to eat from?”
12 The Man said, “The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it.”
God said to the Woman, “What is this that you’ve done?”
13 “The serpent seduced me,” she said, “and I ate.”
14-15 God told the serpent:
“Because you’ve done this, you’re cursed,
cursed beyond all cattle and wild animals,
Cursed to slink on your belly
and eat dirt all your life.
I’m declaring war between you and the Woman,
between your offspring and hers.
He’ll wound your head,
you’ll wound his heel.”
16 He told the Woman:
“I’ll multiply your pains in childbirth;
you’ll give birth to your babies in pain.
You’ll want to please your husband,
but he’ll lord it over you.”
17-19 He told the Man:
“Because you listened to your wife
and ate from the tree
That I commanded you not to eat from,
‘Don’t eat from this tree,’
The very ground is cursed because of you;
getting food from the ground
Will be as painful as having babies is for your wife;
you’ll be working in pain all your life long.
The ground will sprout thorns and weeds,
you’ll get your food the hard way,
Planting and tilling and harvesting,
sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk,
Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried;
you started out as dirt, you’ll end up dirt.”
20 The Man, known as Adam, named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living.
21 God made leather clothing for Adam and his wife and dressed them.
22 God said, “The Man has become like one of us, capable of knowing everything, ranging from good to evil. What if he now should reach out and take fruit from the Tree-of-Life and eat, and live forever? Never—this cannot happen!”
23-24 So God expelled them from the Garden of Eden and sent them to work the ground, the same dirt out of which they’d been made. He threw them out of the garden and stationed angel-cherubim and a revolving sword of fire east of it, guarding the path to the Tree-of-Life.
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Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson