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Word Biblical Commentary, Volume 1: Genesis 1–15 is unavailable, but you can change that!

Examine the compositional sources, textual witnesses, chronology, and theological significance of Genesis with Pentateuch expert Gordon J. Wenham. Review and evaluate modern critical perspectives on Genesis, and consider the legacy of nineteenth-century “higher critical” understanding of Genesis as an evolutionary document, and its relationship to other ancient Near Eastern creation stories such...

The text is a straightforward warning that death will follow eating. Nor can the contradiction between this warning, the snake’s remarks (3:4), and the conclusion of the story be resolved by retranslating “on the day” as “when.” Though this phrase can mean vaguely “when” (cf. 2:4; 5:1), it tends to emphasize promptness of action (e.g., Num 30:6, 8, 9, etc.), especially in the closely similar passage (1 Kgs 2:37, 42). Whether the serpent was right to dismiss the divine warning, here so emphatic and
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