3 But the serpent was shrewder than any animal of the field that Adonai Elohim made. So it said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from all the trees of the garden’?”

² The woman said to the serpent, “Of the fruit of the trees, we may eat. ³ But of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat of it and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

⁴ The serpent said to the woman, “You most assuredly won’t 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 Now the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a thing of lust for the eyes, and that the tree was desirable for imparting wisdom. So she took of its fruit and she ate. She also gave to her husband who was with her and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made for themselves loin-coverings. ⁸ And they heard the sound of Adonai Elohim going to and fro in the garden in the wind of the day. So the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Adonai Elohim in the midst of the Tree of the garden.

⁹ Then Adonai Elohim called to the man and He said to him, “Where are you?”

¹⁰ Then he said, “Your sound—I heard it in the garden and I was afraid. Because I am naked, I hid myself.”

¹¹ Then He said, “Who told you that you are naked? Have you eaten from the Tree from which I commanded you not to eat?”

¹² Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me—she gave me of the Tree, and I ate.”

¹³ Adonai Elohim said to the woman, “What did you do?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me and I ate.”

¹⁴ Adonai Elohim said to the serpent, “Because you did this,

¹⁷ Then to the man He said, “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and ate of the tree which I commanded you, saying, ‘You must not eat of it’:

²⁰ Now Adam named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living. ²¹ Adonai Elohim made Adam and his wife tunics of skin and He clothed them. ²² Then Adonai Elohim said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. So now, in case he stretches out his hand and takes also from the Tree of Life and eats and lives forever,” ²³ Adonai Elohim sent him away from the Garden of Eden, to work the ground from which he had been taken. ²⁴ And He expelled the man; and at the east of the Garden of Eden He had cheruvim dwell along, with the whirling sword of flame, to guard the way to the Tree of Life.

Cain and Abel’s Blood

4 Now the man had relations with Eve his wife and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “I produced a man with Adonai.” ² Then she gave birth again, to his brother Abel. Abel became a shepherd of flocks while Cain became a worker of the ground. ³ So it happened after some time that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to Adonai, ⁴ while Abel—he also brought of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. Now Adonai looked favorably upon Abel and his offering, ⁵ but upon Cain and his offering He did not look favorably. Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell.

⁶ Then Adonai said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? ⁷ If you do well, it will lift. But if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the doorway. Its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

⁸ Cain spoke to Abel his brother. While they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. ^{[b] 9} Then Adonai said to Cain, “Where is Abel, your brother?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁰ Then He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to Me from the ground. ¹¹ So now, cursed are you from the ground which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² As often as you work the ground, it will not yield its crops to you again. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

¹³ Cain said to Adonai, “My iniquity^[c] is too great to bear! ¹⁴ Since You expelled me today from the face of the ground and I must be hidden from Your presence, then I will be a restless wanderer on the earth—anyone who finds me will kill me!”

¹⁵ But Adonai said to him, “In that case, anyone who kills Cain is to be avenged seven times over.”

So Adonai put a mark on Cain, so that anyone who found him would not strike him down. ¹⁶ Then Cain left Adonai’s presence and dwelled in the Land of Wandering, east of Eden.

¹⁷ Cain was intimate with his wife and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. And he was building a city, and he named the city after the name of his son, Enoch. ¹⁸ And to Enoch was born Irad. Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech.

¹⁹ Now Lamech took for himself two wives. The name of the first one was Adah, and the name of the second one was Zillah. ²⁰ Adah gave birth to Jabal—he was the pioneer of tent dwellers with livestock. ²¹ His brother’s name was Jubal—he was the pioneer of all who skillfully handle stringed instruments and wind instruments. ²² Now Zillah also gave birth to Tubal-Cain, the forger of every kind of bronze and iron tools; Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.

²⁵ Adam was intimate with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and she named him Seth, “For God has appointed me another seed in place of Abel—since Cain killed him.” ²⁶ To Seth, also was born a son. He named him Enosh. Then people began to call on Adonai’s Name.

The Angel of Adonai Appears

¹³ Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of Adonai appears to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the Child, to kill Him.”^[a]

¹⁴ So he got up, took the Child and His mother during the night, and went to Egypt. ¹⁵ He stayed there until Herod’s death. This was to fulfill what was spoken by Adonai through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My son.”^[b]

¹⁶ Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became furious. And he sent and killed all boys in Bethlehem and in all its surrounding area, from two years old and under, according to the time he had determined from the magi. ¹⁷ Then was fulfilled what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying,

¹⁹ But when Herod died, behold, an angel of Adonai appears in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, ²⁰ saying, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and go to the land of Israel, for those seeking the Child’s life are dead.”

²¹ So he got up, took the Child and His mother, and went to the land of Israel. ²² But hearing that Archelaus was king of Judea in place of his father Herod, he became afraid to go there. Then after being warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of the Galilee. ²³ And he went and lived in a city called Natzeret,^[d] to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets, that Yeshua shall be called a Natzrati.

John’s Witness to Israel’s Leaders

3 In those days, John the Immerser came proclaiming in the wilderness of Judea, ² “Turn away from your sins, for the kingdom of heaven is near!” ^{[e] 3} For he is the one Isaiah the prophet spoke about, saying,

⁴ Now John wore clothing from camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts^[g] and wild honey. ⁵ Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan. ⁶ Confessing their sins, they were being immersed by him in the Jordan River.

Coronation of Messianic King

Psalm 2

The Wisdom of Parents