Genesis 3:1-15

1The Lord God made many wild animals. But the snake was the most clever of them all. The snake asked the woman, ‘Did God say, “You must not eat the fruit from any tree in the garden”? Is that really true?’

2The woman replied, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden.

3But God said, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not even touch it. If you do that, you will die.” ’

4Then the snake said to the woman, ‘No, you will not die.

5God knows that when you eat the fruit from this tree, you will understand things. You will become like God himself. You will know about good things and evil things.’

6The woman looked at the fruit on the tree. She saw that it would be good to eat, and it was beautiful to look at. She wanted to eat it because it would make her become wise. So she took some fruit and she ate it. Then she gave some of the fruit to her husband who was with her. He also ate it.

7Then they understood what they had done. They realized that they were not wearing any clothes. So they took some leaves from fig trees. They tied them together to cover their bodies.

8In the evening there was a nice cool wind. The Lord God walked in the garden. The man and the woman heard the sound of the Lord God. They hid themselves behind some trees, so that God would not see them.

9The Lord God called out to the man. He said to him, ‘Where are you?’

10The man replied, ‘I heard you in the garden. I was afraid because I had no clothes. So I hid myself from you.’

11The Lord God said, ‘Who told you that you had no clothes? Have you eaten fruit from the tree that I said you must not eat?’

12The man said, ‘It was the woman that you put here with me. She gave me some fruit from the tree. So I ate it.’

13Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘Why have you done a thing like that?’ The woman replied, ‘It was the snake. The snake deceived me with a lie. So I ate the fruit.’

14The Lord God said to the snake, ‘Because you have done this, I will curse you. Among all the farm animals and wild animals, you are the one that I will curse. From now on, you will move across the ground on your stomach. You will eat dust from the ground. You will do this for your whole life.

15I will cause you and the woman to become enemies. Your descendants and her descendants will always be enemies. One of her descendants will attack your head. You will attack his heel.’