Genesis 3
EasyEnglish Bible
The man and the woman turn away from God
3 The Lord God made many wild animals. But the snake was the most clever of them all. The snake asked the woman, ‘Did God say, “You must not eat the fruit from any tree in the garden”? Is that really true?’
2 The woman replied, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But God said, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not even touch it. If you do that, you will die.” ’
4 Then the snake said to the woman, ‘No, you will not die. 5 God knows that when you eat the fruit from this tree, you will understand things. You will become like God himself. You will know about good things and evil things.’[a]
6 The woman looked at the fruit on the tree. She saw that it would be good to eat, and it was beautiful to look at. She wanted to eat it because it would make her become wise. So she took some fruit and she ate it. Then she gave some of the fruit to her husband who was with her. He also ate it.
7 Then they understood what they had done.[b] They realized that they were not wearing any clothes. So they took some leaves from fig trees. They tied them together to cover their bodies.
8 In the evening there was a nice cool wind. The Lord God walked in the garden. The man and the woman heard the sound of the Lord God. They hid themselves behind some trees, so that God would not see them. 9 The Lord God called out to the man. He said to him, ‘Where are you?’
10 The man replied, ‘I heard you in the garden. I was afraid because I had no clothes. So I hid myself from you.’
11 The Lord God said, ‘Who told you that you had no clothes? Have you eaten fruit from the tree that I said you must not eat?’
12 The man said, ‘It was the woman that you put here with me. She gave me some fruit from the tree. So I ate it.’
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘Why have you done a thing like that?’ The woman replied, ‘It was the snake. The snake deceived me with a lie. So I ate the fruit.’
14 The Lord God said to the snake,
‘Because you have done this, I will curse you.[c]
Among all the farm animals and wild animals,
you are the one that I will curse.
From now on, you will move across the ground on your stomach.
You will eat dust from the ground.
You will do this for your whole life.
15 I will cause you and the woman to become enemies.
Your descendants and her descendants will always be enemies.
One of her descendants will attack your head.[d]
You will attack his heel.’[e]
16 God said to the woman, ‘I will cause you to have great pain when you give birth to children. You will want to please your husband. But he will rule over you as your master.’
17 Then God said to Adam,[f] ‘You listened to your wife and you did what she said. You ate fruit from the tree after I told you, “You must not eat fruit from this tree.” Because you did that, I will curse the ground. You will have to work very hard to make plants grow in it for your food. It will be like this for your whole life. 18 Thorn bushes and thistles will grow in the ground.[g] But you will eat plants that grow in the fields. 19 You will have to work hard for a long time before you have any food to eat. You will do this for your whole life until you die. Then you will return into the ground. That is where you came from. I made you from the soil of the ground, and you will become soil again.’
20 Adam gave his wife a name. He called her Eve. This was because she would become the mother of all people.[h]
21 The Lord God made clothes for Adam and Eve to wear. He used the skins from animals to make them.
22 The Lord God said, ‘The man has now become like one of us because he understands good and evil. So we must not let him take fruit from the tree that gives life. If he eats that fruit, he will live for ever.’
23 So the Lord God sent Adam out of the Garden of Eden. To get his food, Adam had to dig the ground that God had used to make him. 24 Then God put cherubs to be guards for the garden. God put them on the east side of the garden. There was also a sword of fire that moved quickly from side to side. As a result, nobody could go near to the tree that gives life.
Footnotes
- 3:5 The snake did not want the woman to trust God. He wanted the woman not to obey God. The woman told the snake that they must not touch the tree in the middle of the garden. But God did not say this. God told the woman that she must not eat the fruit from that tree. The snake told a lie when he said that the man and the woman would not die. The snake told the woman another lie: if she ate the fruit she would be like God.
- 3:7 When the man and the woman ate the fruit, they could then understand what is good and what is evil. That is how they became like God. When God made the man and the woman, there was nothing bad in them. So they did not know the difference between good things and evil things.
- 3:14 When God cursed the snake, it means that he punished the snake. Because he is God, what he says will certainly happen.
- 3:15 God is speaking of a human descendant who would destroy the power of the snake. When God sent Jesus into the world, a woman gave birth to him. By his death on the cross, Jesus destroyed Satan's power.
- 3:15 ‘heel’ is a part of the foot. It is at the back of the foot.
- 3:17 Adam is the name of the man. In the Hebrew language, Adam means ‘man’.
- 3:18 God cursed the ground. Thistles and thorn bushes are not food plants. They are weeds that grow quickly. They stop food plants from growing. Because God has cursed the ground, Adam's descendants have to work very hard to grow plants for their food.
- 3:20 All humans on earth are descendants of Adam and Eve.
Genesis 3
Wycliffe Bible
3 But the serpent was feller than all living beasts of [the] earth, which the Lord God had made. The which serpent said to the woman, Why commanded God to you, that ye should not eat of each tree of paradise? (And the serpent was more cunning than all the living beasts of the earth. And the serpent said to the woman, Why hath God commanded you to not eat from any tree in the garden?)
2 To whom the woman answered, We eat of the fruit of trees that be in paradise; (To whom the woman answered, We can eat of the fruit of the trees that be in the garden;)
3 soothly God commanded to us, that we should not eat of the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of paradise (which is in the middle of the garden), and that we should not touch it, lest peradventure we die.
4 Forsooth the serpent said to the woman, Ye shall not die by death (Ye shall not die);
5 for why God knoweth that in whatever day ye shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil. (for God knoweth that on whatever day ye shall eat of it, your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be like gods, knowing good and evil.)
6 Therefore the woman saw that the tree was good, and sweet to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightable in beholding; and she took of the fruit thereof, and ate, and gave to her husband, and he ate.
7 And the eyes of both (of them) were opened; and when they knew that they were naked, they sewed [together] the leaves of a fig tree, and made breeches to themselves (and made breeches for themselves).
8 And when they heard the voice of the Lord God going in paradise at the wind after midday, Adam and his wife hid them(selves) from the face of the Lord God in [the] midst of the trees of paradise. (And when they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the evening breeze, the man and his wife hid themselves from the face of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.)
9 And the Lord God called Adam, and said to him, Where art thou?
10 And Adam said, I heard thy voice in paradise, and I dreaded, for I was naked, and I hid me. (And the man said, I heard the sound of you walking in the garden, and I was afraid, for I was naked, and so I hid myself.)
11 To whom the Lord said, Who showed to thee that thou were naked, no but for thou hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded to thee that thou shouldest not eat? (To whom the Lord said, Who told thee that thou were naked? hast thou eaten of the tree which I commanded to thee that thou shouldest not eat?)
12 And Adam said, The woman which thou gavest (for) fellow(ship) to me, gave me of the tree, and I ate. (And Adam said, The woman whom thou gavest to me for fellowship, gave to me of the tree, and so I ate.)
13 And the Lord said to the woman, Why didest thou this thing? The which answered, The serpent deceived me, and (so) I ate.
14 And the Lord God said to the serpent, For thou didest this, thou shalt be cursed among all [the] living things, and unreasonable beasts of [the] earth; thou shalt go on thy breast, and thou shalt eat earth in all the days of thy life. (And the Lord God said to the serpent, For thou didest this, thou shalt be cursed among all the living things, and unreasoning beasts of the earth; thou shalt go upon thy breast, and thou shalt eat dust all the days of thy life.)
15 I shall set enmities betwixt thee and the woman, and betwixt thy seed and her seed; she shall break thine head, and thou shalt set ambushes to her heel. (I shall put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; her seed shall break thy head, and thou shalt set ambush to her seed’s heel.)
16 Also God said to the woman, I shall multiply thy wretchednesses and thy conceivings; in sorrow thou shalt bear thy children; and thou shalt be under (the) power of thine husband, and he shall be lord of thee.
17 Soothly God said to Adam, For thou heardest the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded to thee that thou shouldest not eat, the earth shall be cursed in thy work, that is, for thy sin; in travails thou shalt eat thereof in all the days of thy life; (And God said to Adam, For thou heardest thy wife’s voice, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded to thee that thou shouldest not eat, the ground shall be cursed on account of thee, that is, because of thy sin; only after much travail, or much labour, shalt thou get food from it all the days of thy life;)
18 it shall bring forth thorns and briars to thee, and thou shalt eat (the) herbs of the earth;
19 in [the] sweat of thy cheer, [or (thy) face,] thou shalt eat thy bread, till thou turn again into the earth of which thou art taken; for thou art dust, and thou shalt turn again into dust. (by the sweat of thy brow, thou shalt earn thy bread, until thou return to the earth of which thou art taken; for thou art dust, and thou shalt return to dust.)
20 And Adam called the name of his wife Eve, for she was the mother of all men living (for she was the mother of all living people).
21 And the Lord God made coats of skins to Adam and Eve his wife, and clothed them; (And the Lord God made coats out of skins for Adam and Eve his wife, and clothed them;)
22 and said, Lo! Adam is made as one of us, and knoweth good and evil; now therefore see ye, lest peradventure he put [out] his hand, and take [also] of the tree of life, and eat, and live without end.
23 And the Lord God sent him out of (the) paradise of liking, that he should work the earth, of which he was taken. (And so the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden, to work the earth, from which he was taken.)
24 And God casted out Adam, and setted before (the) paradise of liking cherubim, that is, (he gave it into the) keeping of angels, and a sword of flame turning about to keep (charge of) the way of the tree of life. (And so God cast out Adam, and to the east of the Garden of Eden he placed cherubim, and a sword of flame which turned about, to guard the way to the tree of life.)
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
2001 by Terence P. Noble