The Beginning of Sin

3 Now the ·snake [serpent] was the most ·clever [shrewd; cunning; crafty] of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day the snake said to the woman, “Did God really say that you must not eat fruit from any tree in the garden?”

² The woman answered the snake [3:1], “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. ³ But God told us, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden [^Cthe tree of the knowledge of good and evil]. You must not even touch it [^CEve was adding to the divine command], or you will die.’ ”

⁴ But the snake [3:1] said to the woman, “You will [^Lmost certainly] not die. ⁵ [^LFor] God knows that if you eat ·the fruit from that tree [^Lfrom it], [^Lyour eyes will be opened and] you will ·learn about [experience; ^Lknow about] good and evil and you will be like God!”

⁶ The woman saw that the tree was ·beautiful [^Lpleasing to the eyes], that its fruit was good ·to eat [^Lfor food], and that it would make her wise. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of the fruit to her husband who was with her [^Capparently he was present but silent while the woman spoke to the snake], and he ate it.