Genesis 3

1The snake was the smartest of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. The snake said to the woman and said, Did God really tell you that you must not eat from any tree in the garden?

2The woman told the snake, no, we can eat the fruit from the trees in the garden.

3But God said that we may not eat the fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. God said we may not eat fruit from that tree, and we may not touch it or we will die.

4But the snake said to the woman, you will not die.

5God knows that when you eat the fruit from that tree you will learn about good and evil, and then you will be like God!

6Then the 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. She then took some of the fruit from the tree and ate it. Her husband was with her, so she gave him some of the fruit, and he ate it.

7Then they started to understand everything, and they saw that they were naked. They took leaves from fig trees and sewed the leaves together to make 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 themselves among the trees in the garden.

9The Lord God called Adam 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 tree that I told you not to eat from!

12Adam said: Lord, it was because of the woman You gave me. She gave me some of the fruit and 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, because You have done this bad thing. I make bad 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 her child foot 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.

17Then God said Adam, I told you not to eat the fruit from the tree that will make you understand what is good and what is bad. But you did not listen to Me. You listened to your wife, and you ate the fruit. Because you did not listen to Me, 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.

19You will work very long and hard to get food, and your face will be wet and full of sweat. You will work hard until the day you die, and when you die, you will become dust again.

20Adam named his wife Eve. 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 Adam and his wife.

22The Lord God said, look, the man has become like us to know 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.