Genesis 2–3

2ND CHAPTER

¹Heaven and earth and everything in them were finished. ²By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing. On the seventh day he stopped the work he had been doing. ³Then God blessed the seventh day and set it apart as holy, because on that day he stopped all his work of creation. 

The Creation of Man and Woman

⁴This is the account of heaven and earth when they were created, at the time when the Lord God made earth and heaven. 

⁵Wild bushes and plants were not on the earth yet because the Lord God hadn’t sent rain on the earth. Also, there was no one to farm the land. ⁶Instead, underground water would come up from the earth and water the entire surface of the ground. 

⁷Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the earth^aand blew the breath of life into his nostrils. The man became a living being. 

⁸The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east. That’s where he put the man whom he had formed. ⁹The Lord God made all the trees grow out of the ground. These trees were nice to look at, and their fruit was good to eat. The tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil grew in the middle of the garden. 

¹⁰A river flowed from Eden to water the garden. Outside the garden it divided into four rivers. ¹¹The name of the first river is Pishon. This is the one that winds throughout Havilah, where there is gold. ¹²(The gold of that land is pure. Bdellium and onyx are also ⸤found⸥ there.) ¹³The name of the second river is Gihon. This is the one that winds throughout Sudan. ¹⁴The name of the third river is Tigris. This is the one that flows east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. 

¹⁵Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to farm the land and to take care of it. ¹⁶The Lord God commanded the man. He said, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden. ¹⁷But you must never eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because when you eat from it, you will certainly die.” 

¹⁸Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is right for him.” 

¹⁹The Lord God had formed all the wild animals and all the birds out of the ground. Then he brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called each creature became its name. ²⁰So the man named all the domestic animals, all the birds, and all the wild animals. 

But the man found no helper who was right for him. ²¹So the Lord God caused him to fall into a deep sleep. While the man was sleeping, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. ²²Then the Lord God formed a woman from the rib that he had taken from the man. He brought her to the man. 

²³The man said, 

“This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. 

She will be named woman 

because she was taken from man.” 

²⁴That is why a man will leave his father and mother and will be united with his wife, and they will become one flesh. ²⁵The man and his wife were both naked, but they weren’t ashamed of it. 

3RD CHAPTER

The First Sin and the First Promise

¹The snake was more clever than all the wild animals the Lord God had made. He asked the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must never eat the fruit of any tree in the garden’?” 

²The woman answered the snake, “We’re allowed to eat the fruit from any tree in the garden ³except the tree in the middle of the garden. God said, ‘You must never eat it or touch it. If you do, you will die!’ ” 

⁴“You certainly won’t die!” the snake told the woman. ⁵“God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened. You’ll be like God, knowing good and evil.” 

⁶The woman saw that the tree had fruit that was good to eat, nice to look at, and desirable for making someone wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 

⁷Then their eyes were opened, and they both realized that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made clothes for themselves. 

⁸In the cool of the evening, the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking around in the garden. So they hid from the Lord God among the trees in the garden. ⁹The Lord God called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?” 

¹⁰He answered, “I heard you in the garden. I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” 

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

¹²The man answered, “That woman, the one you gave me, gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 

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

“The snake deceived me, and I ate,” the woman answered. 

¹⁴So the Lord God said to the snake, “Because you have done this, 

You are cursed more than all the wild or domestic animals. 

You will crawl on your belly. 

You will be the lowest of animals as long as you live. 

¹⁵I will make you and the woman hostile toward each other. 

I will make your descendants 

and her descendant hostile toward each other. 

He will crush your head, 

and you will bruise his heel.” 

¹⁶He said to the woman, 

“I will increase your pain and your labor 

when you give birth to children. 

Yet, you will long for your husband, 

and he will rule you.” 

¹⁷Then he said to the man, “You listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree, although I commanded you, ‘You must never eat its fruit.’ 

The ground is cursed because of you. 

Through hard work you will eat ⸤food that comes⸥ from it 

every day of your life. 

¹⁸The ground will grow thorns and thistles for you, 

and you will eat wild plants. 

¹⁹By the sweat of your brow, you will produce food to eat 

until you return to the ground, 

because you were taken from it. 

You are dust, and you will return to dust.” 

²⁰Adam named his wife Eve ^[Life^[ because she became the mother of every living person. 

²¹The Lord God made clothes from animal skins for the man and his wife and dressed them. 

²²Then the Lord God said, “The man has become like one of us, since he knows good and evil. He must not reach out and take the fruit from the tree of life and eat. Then he would live forever.” ²³So the Lord God sent the man out of the Garden of Eden to farm the ground from which the man had been formed. ²⁴After he sent the man out, God placed angels^aand a flaming sword that turned in all directions east of the Garden of Eden. He placed them there to guard the way to the tree of life.