Now the serpent was more
deceitful than any other animal that God had made; and it said
to the woman, "Has God really said, 'You shall not eat from any tree
of the garden'?" The woman answered, "We may eat of the fruit of all
the trees of the garden except the fruit of the tree which is in the
middle of the garden, for God has said, 'You shall not eat from it,
nor shall you touch it; for if you do, you shall die.'" Then the
serpent said to the woman, "You shall not surely die; for God knows
that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will
know what is good and what is evil."
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, beautiful to
look at and that it would make her wise, she took some of its fruit
and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband who was with her, and
he ate.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, so that they knew that
they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together and made girdles
for themselves. When they heard the sound of the footsteps of
God, as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, the
man and his wife hid from him among the trees of the garden.
And God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" and
he answered, "I heard the sound of thy footsteps in the garden and I
was afraid, because I was naked; so I hid myself." God said,
"Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from
which I forbade you to eat?" The man answered, "The woman whom thou
didst give to me—she gave me fruit from the tree and I ate." God
said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman
replied, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
Then God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, you
shall be hated more than all beasts. You shall crawl on your belly
and eat dust all your life, and men and serpents shall always be
enemies. They shall bruise your head, and you shall wound them on
the heel."
To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your trouble and your
pain, and you shall be subject to your husband, and he shall rule
over you."
But to the man he said, "Because you have listened to your wife and
have eaten of the tree from which I forbade you to eat, as long as
you live you shall earn a living only by hard work. By hard work
shall you raise food to eat. And you shall die and your body go back
to the ground, for from dust you were made, and to dust you shall
return!"
And God made garments of skins for the man and his wife, and
clothed them. And he sent them out of the garden of Eden to till the
ground.