The Serpent’s Deception
(Romans 5:12–21)

1And the serpent† was cunning above every beast of the field that YHWH God had made. And he said to the woman, “Is it true that God has said, ‘You⁺ shall not eat from any tree of the garden?’”

2And the woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, 3and from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You⁺ shall not eat from it, and you⁺ shall not touch it, lest you⁺ die.’”

4And the serpent said to the woman, “You⁺ will not surely die! 5For God knows that in the day of your⁺ eating from it, your⁺ eyes will be opened and you⁺ will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes and the tree was desirable to make one wise. And she took from its fruit and ate, and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

7And the eyes of the two of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed together leaves of the fig tree and made for themselves loincloths.

God Arraigns Adam and Eve

8And they heard the voice of YHWH God walking about in the garden in the breeze† of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the face of YHWH God in the midst of the trees of the garden.

9And YHWH God called to the man, and He said to him, “Where are you?”

10And he said, “Your voice I heard in the garden, and I was afraid because I am naked, and I hid myself.”

11And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? From the tree of which I commanded you not to eat from it, have you eaten?”

12And the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave to me from the tree, and I ate.”

13And YHWH God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

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

The Fate of the Serpent

14And YHWH God said to the serpent:

“Because you have done this,

cursed are you above all the livestock

and above every beast of the field.

On your belly you shall go,

and dust you shall eat,

all the days of your life.

15And enmity I will put between you and between the woman,

and between your seed and between her seed.

He shall bruise you on the head,

and you shall bruise him on the heel.†

The Punishment of Mankind

16To the woman He said,

“I will surely multiply your pain and your childbearing;

in pain you will bear children.

And toward your husband your desire will be,†

and he will rule over you.”

17And to the man He said:

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife

and ate from the tree of which I commanded you,

saying, ‘you shall not eat from it,’

cursed is the ground on your account,

in toil you shall eat of it

all the days of your life,

18and thorn and thistle it will cause to grow for you,

and you shall eat the vegetation of the field.

19By the sweat of your nose

you shall eat bread,

until your returning to the ground,

for from it you were taken.

For dust you are,

and to dust you shall return.”

20And the man called the name of his wife Eve,† because she was the mother of all the living.

The Expulsion from Paradise

21And YHWH God made for the man and for his wife tunics of skin, and He clothed them.

22And YHWH God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, in knowing good and evil. And now, lest he stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever:”

23And YHWH God sent him out of the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24And He drove out the man, and He caused to dwell at the east of the garden of Eden the cherubim and the flame of the sword that turns itself to guard the way to the tree of life.