Genesis 3 Common English Bible

Knowledge, not eternal life

3 The snake was the most intelligent^[a] of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say that you shouldn’t eat from any tree in the garden?”

²The woman said to the snake, “We may eat the fruit of the garden’s trees ³but not the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. God said, ‘Don’t eat from it, and don’t touch it, or you will die.’”

⁴The snake said to the woman, “You won’t die! ⁵God knows that on the day you eat from it, you will see clearly and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶The woman saw that the tree was beautiful with delicious food and that the tree would provide wisdom, so she took some of its fruit and ate it, and also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷Then they both saw clearly and knew that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made garments for themselves.

⁸During that day’s cool evening breeze, they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden; and the man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God in the middle of the garden’s trees. ⁹The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

¹⁰The man^[b] replied, “I heard your sound in the garden; I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

¹¹He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree, which I commanded you not to eat?”

¹²The man said, “The woman you gave me, she gave me some fruit^[c] from the tree, and I ate.”

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

And the woman said, “The snake tricked me, and I ate.”

¹⁴The Lord God said to the snake,

“Because you did this,
    you are the one cursed
        out of all the farm animals,
        out of all the wild animals.
    On your belly you will crawl,
        and dust you will eat
        every day of your life.

¹⁵I will put contempt

    between you and the woman,
    between your offspring and hers.
They will strike your head,
        but you will strike at their heels.”

¹⁶To the woman he said,

“I will make your pregnancy very painful;
in pain you will bear children.
You will desire your husband,
but he will rule over you.”

¹⁷To the man he said, “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and you ate from the tree that I commanded, ‘Don’t eat from it,’

cursed is the fertile land because of you;
        in pain you will eat from it
        every day of your life.
¹⁸Weeds and thistles will grow for you,
        even as you eat the field’s plants;
¹⁹    by the sweat of your face you will eat bread—
        until you return to the fertile land,
            since from it you were taken;
            you are soil,
                to the soil you will return.”

²⁰The man named his wife Eve^[d] because she is the mother of everyone who lives. ²¹The Lord God made the man and his wife leather clothes and dressed them. ²²The Lord God said, “The human being^[e] has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.” Now, so he doesn’t stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever, ²³the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to farm the fertile land from which he was taken. ²⁴He drove out the human. To the east of the garden of Eden, he stationed winged creatures wielding flaming swords to guard the way to the tree of life.