My Refuge and My Fortress

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.

6 ^(A)Working together with him, then, ^(B)we appeal to you ^(C)not to receive the grace of God in vain. ² For he says,

Behold, ^(E)now is the ^(F)favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. ³ We ^(G)put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, ⁴ but ^(H)as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: ^(I)by great endurance, ^(J)in afflictions, ^(K)hardships, calamities, ^5 (L)beatings, imprisonments, ^(M)riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; ^6 (N)by purity, ^(O)knowledge, patience, kindness, ^(P)the Holy Spirit, ^(Q)genuine love; ⁷ by ^(R)truthful speech, and ^(S)the power of God; with ^(T)the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; ⁸ through honor and dishonor, ^(U)through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; ⁹ as unknown, and ^(V)yet well known; ^(W)as dying, and behold, we live; ^(X)as punished, and yet not killed; ^10 (Y)as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; ^(Z)as poor, yet making many rich; ^(AA)as having nothing, ^(AB)yet possessing everything.

My Refuge and My Fortress