Genesis 3

The snake tricked the woman

1God made lots of animals, but the snake was the animal that had the most brains. He was really smart. One day, the snake went to the woman and said to her, “Did God say, ‘You can’t eat fruit from any of the trees in the garden’? Is that true?”#Revelation 12:9; 20:2

2The woman said, “No, that’s not true. We can eat fruit from those trees there in the garden. 3God said that there is only one tree that we can’t eat from. We can’t eat any fruit that comes from one of the trees that is in the middle of the garden. God will not even let us touch that tree. He said that if we eat fruit from that tree, we will die.”

4The snake said to the woman, “You will not die. 5God knows what will happen if you eat fruit from that tree. He knows that if you eat fruit from that tree, you will know more things, like God himself. You will know if the things you do are good, or if they are bad.”

The man and the woman did the wrong thing

6The woman looked at that tree. It was pretty, and the fruit on that tree looked really good to eat, and she reckoned that if she eats some of that fruit, she will think properly. So the woman got some of that fruit, and she ate it, and she gave some of it to her husband, and he ate that fruit, too. 7Straight away, the man and the woman knew more things. They knew that they were naked, and they felt shame. They wanted to make clothes to cover up their naked bodies, so they picked some big leaves from a tree and sewed the leaves together to make some clothes.

The man and the woman tried to hide from God

8Later on, in the cool part of the day, the man and the woman heard God walking in the garden. So they got behind some trees in the garden to hide from God.

9God called out to the man, “Where are you?”

10The man said, “I heard you walking in the garden and I was frightened, because I’m naked. So I hid from you.”

11God asked the man, “How do you know that you are naked? Did you eat some of that fruit from the tree that I told you not to eat from?”

12The man said, “Yes, but it was the woman that you put here with me, she gave me fruit from that tree, so I ate it.”

13Then God said to the woman, “Why did you do that bad thing?”#2 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Timothy 2:14

The woman said, “That snake tricked me. That’s the reason why I ate that fruit.”

God judged the snake

14Then God said, “Snake, you did the wrong thing, so I will curse you. I will not curse the other animals, but I will curse all you snakes. From now on, you are going to crawl around on your bellies. You will always be down on the ground in the dirt. 15The woman’s kids will hate you, and so will all their kids, and all the people that will be born later on. People will always be your enemies. And Snake, your kids will hate the woman’s kids, and so will all the snake mob that will be born later on. You snake mob will always be the people’s enemies. They will hit your heads, and you will bite their feet.”#Revelation 12:17

God judged the woman

16Then God said to the woman, “I’m going to give you a lot of trouble. You are going to have a lot of pain whenever you have a baby. It will hurt you a lot. But you will really want to have a husband, and your husband will be your boss.”

God judged the man

17-18Then God said to the man, “I told you not to eat any fruit from one of the trees in the middle of the garden, but you listened to your wife, and you ate that fruit. So I will curse the ground and make it bad for you. It will never be easy for you to get your food from the plants in the ground any more. The ground will have lots of rubbish plants and prickles in it.#Hebrews 6:8 19You will work very hard to get your food, so you will get hot, and you will sweat a lot. And later on, you will die. I made you from the dirt, and after you die, your body will turn back into dirt.”

God hunted Adam and Eve out of Eden

20Adam’s wife was the first woman, and all the people in the world came from her. So Adam gave her the name Eve. That name means somebody that gives life. 21God made some clothes from animal skins for Adam and his wife.

22After that, God said, “These people are like us now. They know what things are good, and what things are bad. We have to stop them, so they will not eat fruit from the other tree in the middle of the garden, the tree that makes people stay alive. If they eat that fruit, they will live for ever.”#Revelation 22:14 23So God hunted them out of the garden. To get food, they had to dig the ground and grow plants. You know, God made that man out of the ground, and after they left the garden, that man had to dig that same ground.

24After God hunted them out of the garden, he made sure that they couldn’t get back. He put some of his angel workers to be guards just outside the east side of the garden in Eden. Their job was to stop anybody from getting near the tree that makes people stay alive. They had long knives that were on fire, and they waved those long knives everywhere, to keep everyone away.

Genesis 3

The Beginning of Sin

1The snake was the most clever of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. The snake spoke to the woman and said, “Woman, did God really tell you that you must not eat from any tree in the garden?”

2The woman answered the snake, “No, we can eat fruit from the trees in the garden. 3But there is one tree we must not eat from. God told us, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not even touch that tree, or you will die.’”

4But the snake said to the woman, “You will not die. 5God knows that if you eat the fruit from that tree you will learn about good and evil, and then you will be like God!”

6The woman could see that the tree was beautiful and the fruit looked so good to eat. She also liked the idea that it would make her wise. So she took some of the fruit from the tree and ate it. Her husband was there with her, so she gave him some of the fruit, and he ate it.

7Then it was as if their eyes opened, and they saw things differently. They saw that they were naked. So they got some fig leaves, sewed them together, and wore them for clothes.

8During the cool part of the day, the Lord God was walking in the garden. The man and the woman heard him, and they hid among the trees in the garden. 9The Lord God called to the man and said, “Where are you?”

10The man said, “I heard you walking in the garden, and I was afraid. I was naked, so I hid.”

11God said to the man, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat fruit from that special tree? I told you not to eat from that tree!”

12The man said, “The woman you put here with me gave me fruit from that tree. So I ate it.”

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

She said, “The snake tricked me, so I ate the fruit.”

14So the Lord God said to the snake,

“You did this very bad thing,

so bad things will happen to you.

It will be worse for you

than for any other animal.

You must crawl on your belly

and eat dust all the days of your life.

15I will make you and the woman enemies to each other.

Your children and her children will be enemies.

You will bite her child’s foot,

but he will crush your head.”

16Then God said to the woman,

“I will cause you to have much trouble

when you are pregnant.

And when you give birth to children,

you will have much pain.

You will want your husband very much,

but he will rule over you.”#3:16 You will … over you Or “You will want to rule your husband, but he will rule over you.” In Hebrew this is like the last part of Gen. 4:7.

17Then God said to the man,

“I commanded you not to eat from that tree.

But you listened to your wife and ate from it.

So I will curse the ground because of you.

You will have to work hard all your life for the food the ground produces.

18The ground will grow thorns and weeds for you.

And you will have to eat the plants that grow wild in the fields.#3:18 See Gen. 1:28-29.

19You will work hard for your food,

until your face is covered with sweat.

You will work hard until the day you die,

and then you will become dust again.

I used dust to make you,

and when you die, you will become dust again.”

20Adam#3:20 Adam This name means “man” or “people.” It is like the word meaning “earth” or “red clay.” named his wife Eve.#3:20 Eve This name is like the Hebrew word meaning “life.” He gave her this name because Eve would be the mother of everyone who ever lived.

21The Lord God used animal skins and made some clothes for the man and his wife. Then he put the clothes on them.

22The Lord God said, “Look, the man has become like us—he knows about good and evil. And now the man might take the fruit from the tree of life. If the man eats that fruit, he will live forever.”

23So the Lord God forced the man out of the Garden of Eden to work the ground he was made from. 24God forced the man to leave the garden. Then he put Cherub angels and a sword of fire at the entrance to the garden to protect it. The sword flashed around and around, guarding the way to the tree of life.

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Genesis 3

Genesis 3