This page was migrated in July 2022 from my older website, biblicalambiguities.net.
July 2022 index-genesis
Genesis 3 continues were Genesis 2 left off, and is part of the same Yahwist material.
Verses 9 through 19 form a chiasm. The first half, the interrogation, moves from man, to woman, to snake. The second half, the sentencing, goes through the reverse order: snake, woman, man.
The text below follows the Revised Version, except where it doesn't.
1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any wild animal which Yahweh God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God really said, You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said to the serpent, Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.
4 And the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die; 5 for God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil. 6 And 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, she took of its fruit, and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves coverings.
8 And they heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden.
9 And Yahweh God called to the human, and said to him, Where are you?
10 And he said, I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11 And he said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you not to eat?
12 And the human said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.
13 And Yahweh God said to the woman, What is this you have done?
And the woman said, The serpent deceived me, and I ate.
14 And Yahweh God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock, and above all wild animals; upon your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. They will strike your head, and you will strike their heel.
16 To the woman he said, I will greatly multiply your pain and your conception. In pain you will bring forth children. And your desire will be to your husband, and he will rule over you.
17 And to the human he said, Because you listened to the voice of your wife, and ate of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it; cursed is the ground for your sake; in pain you will eat of it all the days of thy life; 18 and thorns and thistles it will bring forth to you; and you will eat the herb of the field; 19 in the sweat of your face you will eat bread, till you return to the ground; for out of it you were taken: for dust you are, and to dust you will return.
20 And the human called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And Yahweh God made for the human and for his wife coats of skins, and clothed them.
22 And Yahweh God said, Behold, the human has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever ... 23 Therefore Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden the Cherubim, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
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