Those first people sinned by disobeying God

1The snake was more cunning than all the other wild animals that Yahweh God had made. One day Satan gave to the snake the ability to talk to the woman. The snake said to her, “Did God really say to you, ‘Do not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the park/garden’?”

2The woman replied, “What God said was, ‘Do not eat the fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the park/garden or touch it. If you do that, you will die. But you can eat fruit from any of the other trees.’”

4The snake said to the woman, “No, you will certainly not die. God said that

5only because he knows that when you eat fruit from that tree, you will understand new things. It will be as though your eyes are opened [MET], and you will know what is good to do and what is evil to do, just as God does.”

6The woman saw that the fruit on that tree was good to eat, and it was very beautiful, and she desired it because she thought it would make her wise. So she picked some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, and he ate it.

7Immediately it was as though their eyes were opened, and they realized that they were naked, so they were ashamed. So they picked some fig leaves and fastened them together to make clothes for themselves.

8Late that afternoon, when a cool breeze was blowing, they heard the sound/footsteps of Yahweh as he was walking in the park/garden. So the man and his wife hid themselves among the bushes in the park/garden, so that Yahweh God would not see them.

9But Yahweh God called to the man, saying to him, “Why are you trying to hide from me?”

10The man replied, “I heard the sound of your footsteps/walking in the garden, and I was naked, so I was afraid and I hid myself.”

11God said, “How did you find out you were naked [RHQ]? It must be because you ate some of the fruit from the tree that I told you, ‘Do not eat its fruit.’” [RHQ]

12The man said, “You gave me this woman to be with me. She is the one who gave me some of the fruit from that tree, and so I ate it.”

13Then Yahweh God said to the woman, “Why did you do such a thing?” The woman replied, “I ate some of the fruit because the snake deceived me.”

14Then Yahweh God said to the snake, “Because you did this, of all the livestock and the wild animals, I will curse/punish you alone. As a result, you and all other snakes will scurry across the ground on your bellies, and so what you eat will have dirt on it as long as you live.

15And I will cause you and the woman to act in a hostile way toward each other, and I will cause your brood and her descendants to act hostilely toward each other. You will strike at the heel of one descendant of hers, but he will strike your head.”

16Then Yahweh said to the woman, “You will have great pain when you give birth to children; you will suffer great pain as your children are being born [DOU]. You will greatly desire your husband to show affection for you, but he will rule over you.”

17Then Yahweh said to the man, “You heeded what your wife said, and you ate some of the fruit of the tree concerning which I commanded you saying, ‘Do not eat it.’ So I will make it difficult to grow things in the ground because of what you did. You will have to work hard as long as you live to produce things from the ground to eat.

18Thornbushes and thistle plants and other weeds will grow and prevent what you have planted from growing. And for food, you will have to eat things that just grow in your fields.

19All your life you will sweat as you work hard to produce food to eat. Then you will die [EUP], and your body will be buried in the ground. I made you from soil, so when you die and are buried your body will decay and become soil again.”

20The man, whose name was Adam, named his wife Eve, which means ‘living’, because she became the ancestor of all living people.

21Then Yahweh God killed some animals and made clothes from their skins for Adam and his wife.

22Then Yahweh said, “Look! Those two have become like us because they know what is good to do and what is evil to do. So now, it will not be good if they reach out and pick and eat some of the fruit from the tree which enables people who eat it to live forever!”

23So Yahweh God expelled the man and his wife from the garden of Eden. Yahweh God had created Adam from the ground, but now he forced him to till that ground so that he could grow food to eat.

24After Yahweh expelled them, on the east side of the garden he placed ◄cherubim/creatures with wings► and an angel holding a flaming sword which flashed back and forth. He did that in order to block the entrance to the garden, so that people could not go back to the tree that enables people who eat its fruit to live forever.