The First Disobedience

Now the serpent was more deceitful than any other animal that Jehovah

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 Jehovah, 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 Jehovah 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." Jehovah 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." Jehovah said to the

woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman replied, "The

serpent deceived me, and I ate."



Then Jehovah 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 Jehovah 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.