Genesis 3:1-13

New International Reader's Version

Adam and Eve Fall Into Sin

3 The serpent was more clever than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. The serpent said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat fruit from any tree in the garden’?”

² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. ³ But God did say, ‘You must not eat the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden. Do not even touch it. If you do, you will die.’ ”

⁴ “You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman. ⁵ “God knows that when you eat fruit from that tree, you will know things you have never known before. Like God, you will be able to tell the difference between good and evil.”

⁶ The woman saw that the tree’s fruit was good to eat and pleasing to look at. She also saw that it would make a person wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. And he ate it. ⁷ Then both of them knew things they had never known before. They realized they were naked. So they sewed together fig leaves and made clothes for themselves.

⁸ Then the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking in the garden. It was during the coolest time of the day. They hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called out to the man. “Where are you?” he asked.

¹⁰ “I heard you in the garden,” the man answered. “I was afraid, because I was naked. So I hid.”

¹¹ The Lord God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten fruit from the tree I commanded you not to eat from?”

¹² The man said, “It’s the fault of the woman you put here with me. She gave me some fruit from the tree. And I ate it.”

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

The woman said, “The serpent tricked me. That’s why I ate the fruit.”