Genesis 2:15-3:24

English Standard Version

¹⁵ The Lord God took the man ^(A)and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ^(B)you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat^[a] of it you ^(C)shall surely die.”

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; ^(D)I will make him a helper fit for^[b] him.” ^19 (E)Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed^[c] every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and ^(F)brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam^[d] there was not found a helper fit for him. ²¹ So the Lord God caused a ^(G)deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²² And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made^[e] into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³ Then the man said,

^24 (J)Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ²⁵ And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

The Fall

3 Now ^(K)the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You^[g] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³ but God said, ^(L)‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” ^4 (M)But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely 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 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,^[h] she took of its fruit ^(N)and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, ^(O)and he ate. ^7 (P)Then the eyes of both were opened, ^(Q)and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

⁸ And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool^[i] of the day, and the man and his wife ^(R)hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”^{[j] 10} And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, ^(S)because I was naked, and I hid myself.” ¹¹ He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹² The man said, ^(T)“The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, ^(U)“The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴ The Lord God said to the serpent,

¹⁶ To the woman he said,

¹⁷ And to Adam he said,

²⁰ The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.^{[m] 21} And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

²² Then the Lord God said, ^(AG)“Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand ^(AH)and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” ²³ therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden ^(AI)to work the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the ^(AJ)cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.