Genesis 2:4–4:26

MAN AND WOMAN IN THE GARDEN

⁴These are the records^e of the heavens and the earth, concerning their creation. At the time^G that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, ⁵no shrub of the field^f had yet grown on the land,^H and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not made it rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground. ⁶But mist would come up from the earth and water all the ground. ⁷Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground^g and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils,^h and the man became a living being.ⁱ

⁸The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east,^j and there he placed the man he had formed. ⁹The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden,^k as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.^l

¹⁰A river went^I out from Eden to water the garden. From there it divided and became the source of four rivers.^{J 11}The name of the first is Pishon, which flows through the entire land of Havilah,^Am where there is gold. ¹²Gold from that land is pure;^B bdellium^C and onyx^D are also there. ¹³The name of the second river is Gihon, which flows through the entire land of Cush. ¹⁴The name of the third river is Tigris,ⁿ which runs east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.^o

¹⁵The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. ¹⁶And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden,^{p 17}but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.”^{q 18}Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper corresponding^r to him.” ¹⁹The Lord God formed out of the ground every wild animal and every bird of the sky, and brought each to the man to see what he would call it.^s And whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. ²⁰The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, and to every wild animal; but for the man^E no helper was found corresponding to him. ²¹So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to come over the man,^t and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place. ²²Then the Lord God made the rib he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man.^{u 23}And the man said:

This one, at last, is bone of my bone

and flesh of my flesh;

this one will be called “woman,”

for she was taken from man.^v

²⁴This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.^{w 25}Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame.

THE TEMPTATION AND THE FALL

3Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”^x

²The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. ³But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”^y

⁴“No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman.^{z 5}“In fact, God knows that when^F you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.^{aa 7}Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

SIN’S CONSEQUENCES

⁸Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze,^A and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.^{a 9}So the Lord God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

¹⁰And he said, “I heard you^B in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”

¹¹Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

¹²The man replied,^b “The woman you gave to be with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate.”

¹³So the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”

And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”^c

¹⁴So the Lord God said to the serpent:

Because you have done this,

you are cursed more than any livestock

and more than any wild animal.

You will move on your belly

and eat dust all the days of your life.^d

¹⁵I will put hostility between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring.

He will strike your head,

and you will strike his heel.^e

¹⁶He said to the woman:

I will intensify your labor pains;

you will bear children with painful effort.^f

Your desire^g will be for your husband,

yet he will rule over you.

¹⁷And he said to the man, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’:

The ground is cursed because of you.^h

You will eat from it by means of painful labor^D

all the days of your life.

¹⁸It will produce thorns and thistles for you,

and you will eat the plants of the field.ⁱ

¹⁹You will eat bread^E by the sweat of your brow

until you return to the ground,^j

since you were taken from it.

For you are dust,

and you will return to dust.”

²⁰The man named his wife Eve^F because she was the mother of all the living. ²¹The Lord God made clothing from skins for the man and his wife, and he clothed them.

²²The Lord God said, “Since the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil, he must not reach out, take from the tree of life, eat, and live forever.”^{k 23}So the Lord God sent him away from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴He drove the man out and stationed the cherubim and the flaming, whirling sword east of the garden of Eden to guard the way to the tree of life.^l

CAIN MURDERS ABEL

4The man was intimate with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. She said, “I have had a male child with the Lord’s help.”^{A 2}She also gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel became a shepherd of flocks, but Cain worked the ground. ³In the course of time Cain presented some of the land’s produce as an offering to the Lord.^{m 4}And Abel also presented an offering—some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions.ⁿ The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering,^{o 5}but he did not have regard for Cain and his offering. Cain was furious, and he looked despondent.

⁶Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you furious?^p And why do you look despondent? ⁷If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”^q

⁸Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”^B And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.^r

⁹Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”

¹⁰Then he said, “What have you done? Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground!^{s 11}So now you are cursed, alienated from the ground that opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood you have shed.^{C 12}If you work the ground, it will never again give you its yield. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”^t

¹³But Cain answered the Lord, “My punishment^D is too great to bear! ¹⁴Since you are banishing me today from the face of the earth, and I must hide from your presence and become a restless wanderer on the earth, whoever finds me will kill me.”^a. ¹⁵Then the Lord replied to him, “In that case,^E whoever kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” And he placed a mark^b on Cain so that whoever found him would not kill him. ¹⁶Then Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod,^F east of Eden.

THE LINE OF CAIN

¹⁷Cain was intimate with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. Then Cain became the builder of a city, and he named the city Enoch after his son. ¹⁸Irad was born to Enoch, Irad fathered Mehujael, Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech. ¹⁹Lamech took two wives for himself, one named Adah and the other named Zillah. ²⁰Adah bore Jabal; he was the first^G of the nomadic herdsmen. ²¹His brother was named Jubal; he was the first^* of all who play the lyre and the flute. ²²Zillah bore Tubal-cain, who made all kinds of bronze and iron tools. Tubal-cain’s sister was Naamah.

²³Lamech said to his wives:

Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;

wives of Lamech, pay attention to my words.

For I killed a man for wounding me,

a young man for striking me.

²⁴If Cain is to be avenged seven times over,

then for Lamech it will be seventy-seven times!

²⁵Adam was intimate with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, for she said, “God has given^A me another offspring^B in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” ²⁶A son was born to Seth^c also, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord.^d