Genesis 2:4–4:26

^41aThis is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in ^bthe day that the Lord God made earth and heaven.

^5aNow no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, ^bfor the Lord God had not sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to ¹cultivate the ground.

⁶But a ¹mist used to rise from the earth and water the whole ²surface of the ground.

⁷Then the Lord God formed man of ^adust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and ^bman became a living ¹being.

⁸The Lord God planted a ^agarden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed.

⁹Out of the ground the Lord God caused to grow ^aevery tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; ^bthe tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰Now a ^ariver ¹flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four ²rivers.

¹¹The name of the first is Pishon; it ¹flows around the whole land of ^aHavilah, where there is gold.

¹²The gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there.

¹³The name of the second river is Gihon; it ¹flows around the whole land of Cush.

¹⁴The name of the third river is ^1aTigris; it ²flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the ^3bEuphrates.

¹⁵Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it.

¹⁶The Lord God ^acommanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;

¹⁷but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not ¹eat, for in the day that you eat from it ^ayou will surely die.”

¹⁸Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; ^aI will make him a helper ¹suitable for him.”

^19aOut of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the ¹sky, and ^bbrought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name.

²⁰The man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the ¹sky, and to every beast of the field, but for ²Adam there was not found ^aa helper ³suitable for him.

²¹So the Lord God caused a ^adeep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place.

²²The Lord God ¹fashioned into a woman ^athe rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.

²³The man said,

“^aThis is now bone of my bones,

And flesh of my flesh;

¹She shall be called ²Woman,

Because she was taken out of ³Man.”

^24aFor this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.

^25aAnd the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Chapter 3

The Fall of Man

¹Now ^athe serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from ¹any tree of the garden’?”

²The woman said to the serpent, “^aFrom the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;

³but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’ ”

^4aThe serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!

⁵“For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and ^ayou will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

^6aWhen the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

⁷Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they ^aknew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves ¹loin coverings.

⁸They heard the sound of ^athe Lord God walking in the garden in the ¹cool of the day, ^band the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

⁹Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “^aWhere are you?”

¹⁰He said, “^aI heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”

¹¹And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

^12aThe man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me from the tree, and I ate.”

¹³Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “^aThe serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴The Lord God said to the serpent,

“^aBecause you have done this,

Cursed are you more than all cattle,

And more than every beast of the field;

On your belly you will go,

And ^bdust you will eat

All the days of your life;

¹⁵And I will put ^aenmity

Between you and the woman,

And between your seed and her seed;

^bHe shall ¹bruise you on the head,

And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

¹⁶To the woman He said,

“I will greatly multiply

Your pain ¹in childbirth,

In pain you will ^abring forth children;

Yet your desire will be for your husband,

And ^bhe will rule over you.”

¹⁷Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;

^aCursed is the ground because of you;

^bIn ¹toil you will eat of it

All the days of your life.

¹⁸“Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;

And you will eat the ¹plants of the field;

¹⁹By the sweat of your face

You will eat bread,

Till you ^areturn to the ground,

Because ^bfrom it you were taken;

For you are dust,

And to dust you shall return.”

²⁰Now the man called his wife’s name ^1aEve, because she was the mother of all the living.

²¹The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

²²Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of ^aUs, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from ^bthe tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—

²³therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.

²⁴So ^aHe drove the man out; and at the ^beast of the garden of Eden He stationed the ^ccherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to ^dthe tree of life.

Chapter 4

Cain and Abel

¹Now the man ¹had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to ²Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a ³manchild with the help of the Lord.”

²Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And ^aAbel was ^ba keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

³So it came about ¹in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground.

^4aAbel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And ^bthe Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering;

⁵but ^afor Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So ^bCain became very angry and his countenance fell.

⁶Then the Lord said to Cain, “^aWhy are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?

⁷“^aIf you do well, ¹will not your countenance be lifted up? ^bAnd if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, ^cbut you must master it.”

⁸Cain ¹told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and ^akilled him.

⁹Then the Lord said to Cain, “^aWhere is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁰He said, “What have you done? ^aThe voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground.

¹¹“Now ^ayou are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

¹²“^aWhen you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; ^byou will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.”

¹³Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great to bear!

¹⁴“Behold, You have ^adriven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden, and ^bI will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and ^cwhoever finds me will kill me.”

¹⁵So the Lord said to him, “Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him ^asevenfold.” And the Lord ^1bappointed a sign for Cain, so that no one finding him would slay him.

¹⁶Then Cain went out from the presence ^aof the Lord, and ¹settled in the land of ²Nod, east of Eden.

¹⁷Cain ¹had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son.

¹⁸Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad ¹became the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael became the father of Methushael, and Methushael became the father of Lamech.

¹⁹Lamech took to himself ^atwo wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah.

²⁰Adah gave birth to 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.

²²As for Zillah, she also gave birth to Tubal-cain, the forger of all implements of bronze and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

²³Lamech said to his wives,

“Adah and Zillah,

Listen to my voice,

You wives of Lamech,

Give heed to my speech,

^aFor I ¹have killed a man for wounding me;

And a boy for striking me;

²⁴If Cain is avenged ^asevenfold,

Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”

^25aAdam ¹had relations with his wife again; and she gave birth to a son, and named him ²Seth, for, she said, “God ³has appointed me another ⁴offspring in place of Abel, ^bfor Cain killed him.”

²⁶To Seth, to him also ^aa son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began ^bto call ¹upon the name of the Lord.