The Temptation and Fall

1Now the Shining Onea was more clever than any animal of the field that the LORD God had made. Itb asked the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You are not to eat from any tree of the garden’?”

2“We may eat from the trees of the garden,” the woman answered the serpent, 3“but as for the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You are not to eat from it, nor are you to touch it, or you will die.’”

4“You certainly will not die!” the Shining One told the woman. 5“Even God knows that on the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you’ll become like God,c knowing good and evil.”

6When the woman saw that the tree produced good food, was attractive in appearance,d and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it.e Then she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate some, too.f 7As a result, they both understood what they had done,g and they became aware that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

8When they heard the voice of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden during the breeze of the day, the man and his wife concealed themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9So the LORD God called out to the man, asking him, “Where are you?”

10“I heard your voice in the garden,” the manh answered, “and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid from you.”i

11“Who told you that you are naked?” Godj asked. “Did you eat fruitk from the tree that I commanded you not to eat?”

12The man answered, “The woman whom you provided forl me gave me fruitm from the tree, and I ate some of it.”n

13Then the LORD God asked the woman, “What did you do?”o

“The Shining One misled me,” the woman answered, “so I ate.”

The Penalty of Sin

14The LORD God told the Shining One,

“Because you have done this,

you are more cursed than all the livestock,

and more than all the earth’s animals,p

You’ll crawl on your belly

and eat dust

as long as you live.

15“I’ll place hostility between you and the woman,

between your offspring and her offspring.

He’ll strike you on the head,

and you’ll strike him on the heel.”

16He told the woman,

“I’ll greatly increase the pain of your labor during childbirth.

It will be painful for you to bear children,

“since your trust is turningq toward your husband,

and he will dominate you.”

17He told the man,

“Because you have listened to what your wife said,r

and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you,s

‘You must not eat from it,’

cursed is the ground because of you.

You’ll eat from it through pain-filled labor

for the rest of your life.

18It will produce thorns and thistles for you,

and you’ll eat the plants from the meadows.

19You will eat food by the sweat of your brow

until you’re buried int the ground,

because you were taken from it.

You’re made from dust

and you’ll return to dust.”

20Now Adamu had named his wife “Eve,”v because she was to become the mother of everyone who was living. 21The LORD God fashioned garments from animal skins for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

22Later, the LORD God said, “Look! The man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, so he won’t reach out, also take from the tree of life, eat, and then live forever—” 23therefore the LORD God expelled the manw from the garden of Eden so he would work the ground from which he had been taken. 24After he had expelled the man, the LORD Godx placed winged angelsy at the eastern end of the garden of Eden, along with a fiery, turning sword, to prevent access toz the tree of life.