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Genesis 3

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The Serpent Tempts the Woman 1–5

1
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? ​
2
And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3
But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. ​
4
And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. ​

The Disobedience and The Fall 6–7

6
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. ​
7
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. ​

The Lord God Seeks Out Adam 8–13

8
And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. ​
9
And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? ​
10
And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11
And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. ​
13
And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

Consequences and Divine Judgment 14–20

14
And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: ​
15
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. ​
16
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. ​
17
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; ​
18
Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
19
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
20
And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

Expulsion from the Garden 21–24

21
Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. ​
22
And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: ​
23
Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
24
So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Genesis 3

Verse 1

the serpent… more subtil — Arum, 'crafty' or 'prudent'; the same word is the 'prudent' of Prov 14:15, 'the prudent man looketh well to his going', so its sense depends on its use. Paul says 'the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty' (2 Cor 11:3), and Scripture names the old serpent 'the Devil, and Satan' (Rev 12:9; 20:2).

Verse 3

neither shall ye touch it — The command in 2:16–17 forbids eating and does not mention touching; its penalty is 'thou shalt surely die', where the woman reports 'lest ye die'. The serpent answers that report directly, 'Ye shall not surely die' (v.4). In vv.1–5 the serpent and the woman say only 'God'; the chapter itself says 'the LORD God'.

Verse 5

ye shall be as gods — Elohim, the same word as 'God' earlier in the verse, so the promise is likeness to God himself, 'knowing good and evil'. 'Your eyes shall be opened' comes true in v.7, but what they see is that they are naked. God's own words in v.22, 'become as one of us, to know good and evil', answer it.

Verse 6

good for food… pleasant to the eyes… to make one wise — The woman's three reasons run parallel to 'the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life' (1 John 2:16). 'To be desired' is chamad, the verb of 'Thou shalt not covet' (Ex 20:17). Adam was 'with her'; Paul traces the entrance of sin to 'one man' (Rom 5:12).

Verse 7

they were naked — Their eyes are opened as promised (v.5), but 'they knew that they were naked', where in 2:25 they 'were not ashamed'. 'Aprons' is chagorah, a girdle, the word rendered 'girdle' in 2 Sam 18:11 and 1 Kgs 2:5. The covering they sew is replaced by the 'coats of skins' God makes (v.21).

Verse 8

walking in the garden — The verb is the reflexive, repeated form of halak, to walk to and fro, used again of the LORD among his people: 'I will walk among you, and will be your God' (Lev 26:12). 'The cool of the day' is literally 'the wind of the day'. They hid 'from the presence' (literally the face) of the LORD, from whom no one hides (Jer 23:24).

Verse 9

Where art thou? — One Hebrew word (ayyekah, from ay, 'where'), asked before any sentence is passed. The LORD God calls first, though the man had hidden. His answer in v.10 gives the reason for hiding, his fear and his nakedness; the questions that follow draw out the rest: 'Who told thee that thou wast naked?' (v.11), 'What is this that thou hast done?' (v.13).

Verse 12

The woman whom thou gavest — Nathan, 'give', is used twice: what God gave, 'the woman', and what she gave, 'of the tree'. The answer names her and the Giver before it names himself, and closes with 'I did eat'. Scripture states the opposite course: 'whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy' (Prov 28:13).

Verse 14

thou art cursed — Arar, the first curse in Scripture; it falls on the serpent here and on the ground in v.17, not on the man or the woman. 'Belly' (gachon) occurs only here and in Lev 11:42. The dust he eats returns in the promises: 'dust shall be the serpent's meat' (Isa 65:25), 'they shall lick the dust like a serpent' (Mic 7:17).

Verse 15

thy seed and her seed — Seed is ordinarily reckoned from the father; here it is 'her seed', and Paul writes 'God sent forth his Son, made of a woman' (Gal 4:4). Shuph, 'to bruise', is the one verb used of both wounds, head and heel. The sequel: 'through death he might destroy… the devil' (Heb 2:14); 'the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet' (Rom 16:20).

Verse 16

thy desire shall be to thy husband — Teshuqah, 'desire', occurs only here, in Gen 4:7 and in Song 7:10. 'Sorrow' is itstsabon, the word used of the man's toil in v.17 and of Noah's 'toil of our hands' (Gen 5:29). Paul speaks of the order in marriage with the measure of Christ's love for the church (Eph 5:23–25).

Verse 17

cursed is the ground for thy sake — The sin is named exactly: he 'hearkened unto the voice of thy wife' and ate of the tree 'of which I commanded thee'. The ground carries the curse (arar), and the toil is itstsabon, the 'sorrow' of v.16 (Gen 5:29). Paul sees the creation in the same bondage: 'the creature was made subject to vanity' (Rom 8:20).

Verse 21

coats of skins — Kethoneth, a tunic; God himself 'clothed them', after their own fig leaves (v.7). The covering has long been read as given through the death of an animal; the text does not say how the skins were obtained. The same word is used of the priest's 'holy linen coat' (Lev 16:4), and Isaiah sings 'he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation' (Isa 61:10).

Verse 22

lest he put forth his hand — Shalach, 'put forth', is the verb of v.23, 'the LORD God sent him forth': the hand that would be sent out to the tree is answered by his being sent out of the garden. 'As one of us' resumes the plural of 'Let us make man' (1:26). The tree of life is promised again in Rev 2:7 and stands in the city in Rev 22:2, 14.

Verse 24

Cherubims — The first mention of the cherubim (kerub); two of gold stand on the mercy seat, where the LORD says 'I will commune with thee' (Ex 25:18, 22). 'To keep' is shamar, the verb of 2:15, 'to dress it and to keep it': what Adam was to keep in the garden, the cherubim now keep, 'the way of the tree of life'.