2 So the heavens and the earth and everything in them were completed.a 2 On the seventhA day God had completed his work that he had done, and he rested* on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.b 3 God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it he restedc from all his work of creation.d

MAN AND WOMAN IN THE GARDEN

4 These are the recordse of the heavens and the earth, concerning their creation. At the timeD that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, 5 no shrub of the fieldf had yet grown on the land,E 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. 6 But mist would come up from the earth and water all the ground. 7 Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the groundg and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils,h and the man became a living being.i

8 The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east,j and there he placed the man he had formed. 9 The 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

10 A river wentF out from Eden to water the garden. From there it divided and became the source of four rivers.G 11 The name of the first is Pishon, which flows through the entire land of Havilah,H,m where there is gold. 12 Gold from that land is pure;I bdelliumJ and onyxK are also there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon, which flows through the entire land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Tigris,n which runs east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.o

15 The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. 16 And 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 correspondingr to him.” 19 The 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. 20 The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the sky, and to every wild animal; but for the manL no helper was found corresponding to him. 21 So 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. 22 Then 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

24 This 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

3 Now 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

2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But 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 whenM you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 The 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

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze,O 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?”

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

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

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

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

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

14 So 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

15 I 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

16 He said to the woman:

I will intensify your labor pains;

you will bear children with painful effort.f

Your desireg will be for your husband,

yet he will rule over you.

17 And 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 laborB

all the days of your life.

18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you,

and you will eat the plants of the field.i

19 You will eat breadC 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.”

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

22 The 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. 24 He 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

4 The 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.”E 2 She also gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel became a shepherd of flocks, but Cain worked the ground. 3 In 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.

6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you furious?p And why do you look despondent? 7 If 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

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

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

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

10 Then 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.I 12 If you work the ground, it will never again give you its yield. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”t

13 But Cain answered the Lord, “My punishmentA is too great to bear! 14 Since 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. 15 Then the Lord replied to him, “In that case,B whoever kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” And he placed a markb on Cain so that whoever found him would not kill him. 16 Then Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod,* east of Eden.

THE LINE OF CAIN

17 Cain 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. 18 Irad was born to Enoch, Irad fathered Mehujael, Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech. 19 Lamech took two wives for himself, one named Adah and the other named Zillah. 20 Adah bore Jabal; he was the first* of the nomadic herdsmen. 21 His brother was named Jubal; he was the first* of all who play the lyre and the flute. 22 Zillah bore Tubal-cain, who made all kinds of bronze and iron tools. Tubal-cain’s sister was Naamah.

23 Lamech 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.

24 If Cain is to be avenged seven times over,

then for Lamech it will be seventy-seven times!

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