Genesis 2:4–4:26

The Creation of Man and Woman

^4yThese are the generations

of the heavens and the earth when they were created,

in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

⁵When no ^zbush of the field¹ was yet in the land² and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man ^ato work the ground, ⁶and a mist³ was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground— ⁷then the Lord God formed the man of ^bdust from the ground and ^cbreathed into his ^dnostrils the breath of life, and ^ethe man became a living creature. ⁸And the Lord God planted a ^fgarden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. ⁹And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. ^gThe tree of life was in the midst of the garden, ^hand the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. ¹¹The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of ⁱHavilah, where there is gold. ¹²And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. ¹³The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. ¹⁴And the name of the third river is the ^jTigris, which flows east of Assyria.⁴ And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵The Lord God took the man ^kand put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. ¹⁶And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, ¹⁷but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ^lyou shall not eat, for in the day that you eat⁵ of it you ^mshall surely die.”

¹⁸Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; ⁿI will make him a helper fit for⁶ him.” ^19oNow out of the ground the Lord God had formed⁷ every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and ^pbrought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. ²⁰The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam⁸ there was not found a helper fit for him. ²¹So the Lord God caused a ^qdeep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²²And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made⁹ into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³Then the man said,

“This at last is ^rbone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called Woman,

because she was ^staken out of Man.”¹⁰

^24tTherefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. ²⁵And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

The Fall

3Now ^uthe serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You¹ shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” ²And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, ³but God said, ^v‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” ^4wBut the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. ⁵For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶So 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,² she took of its fruit ^xand ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, ^yand he ate. ^7zThen the eyes of both were opened, ^aand they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

⁸And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool³ of the day, and the man and his wife ^bhid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”^{4 10}And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, ^cbecause I was naked, and I hid myself.” ¹¹He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” ¹²The man said, ^d“The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” ¹³Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, ^e“The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,

cursed are you above all livestock

and above all beasts of the field;

on your belly you shall go,

and ^fdust you shall eat

all the days of your life.

¹⁵I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring⁵ and ^gher offspring;

^hhe shall bruise your head,

and you shall bruise his heel.”

¹⁶To the woman he said,

“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;

ⁱin pain you shall bring forth children.

^jYour desire shall be for⁶ your husband,

and he shall ^krule over you.”

¹⁷And to Adam he said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife

and have eaten of the tree

^lof which I commanded you,

‘You shall not eat of it,’

^mcursed is the ground because of you;

ⁿin pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

¹⁸thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;

and you shall eat the plants of the field.

¹⁹By the sweat of your face

you shall eat bread,

till you return to the ground,

for out of it you were taken;

^ofor you are dust,

and ^pto dust you shall return.”

²⁰The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.^{7 21}And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

²²Then the Lord God said, ^q“Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand ^rand take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” ²³therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden ^sto work the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the ^tcherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Cain and Abel

4Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten¹ a man with the help of the Lord.” ²And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. ³In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of ^uthe fruit of the ground, ⁴and Abel also brought of ^vthe firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord ^whad regard for Abel and his offering, ⁵but ^xfor Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. ⁶The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? ^7yIf you do well, will you not be accepted?² And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. ^zIts desire is for³ you, and you must rule over it.”

⁸Cain spoke to Abel his brother.⁴ And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and ^akilled him. ⁹Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, ^b“I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” ¹⁰And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood ^cis crying to me from the ground. ¹¹And now ^dyou are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹²When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” ¹³Cain said to the Lord, “My ^epunishment is greater than I can bear.^{5 14}Behold, ^fyou have driven me today away from the ground, and ^gfrom your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, ^hand whoever finds me will kill me.” ¹⁵Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him ⁱsevenfold.” And the Lord ^jput a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. ¹⁶Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod,⁶ east of Eden.

¹⁷Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. ¹⁸To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech. ¹⁹And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. ²⁰Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. ²¹His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. ²²Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

²³Lamech said to his wives:

“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;

you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say:

I have killed a man for wounding me,

a young man for striking me.

^24kIf Cain’s revenge is sevenfold,

then Lamech’s is seventy-sevenfold.”

²⁵And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed⁷ for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” ²⁶To ^lSeth also a son was born, and he called his name ^mEnosh. At that time people began ⁿto call upon the name of the Lord.