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12 The man answered, “The woman whom you put here with me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.”

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

The woman answered, “The serpent tricked me and I ate it.”

14 The Lord God said to the serpent,[a]

“Because you have done this, you will be the most cursed
    of all the animals
    and of all the wild beasts.
On your belly you shall crawl
    and you shall eat dust
    for all the days of your life.

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 3:14 The biblical tradition uses the serpent to represent Satan; the divine punishment is aimed at the demon. On your belly you shall crawl and you shall eat dust is a customary Semitic way of describing enemies defeated in battle and compelled to acknowledge the power of their conqueror (see Ps 72:9; Isa 49:23; Mic 7:17).