Genesis Chapter 3
Showing all 24 verses for Genesis Chapter 3.
The People's Bible is written by people, for the people. Each verse below shows:
"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? "
"Now the serpent was more cunning than any wild animal the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?""
Temptation rarely announces itself; it usually starts with a small question that makes you doubt what you already know is true. When you notice yourself being nudged to question God's good instructions, pause and ask where that question is really coming from before you answer it.
"And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: "
"The woman replied, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,"
Eve initially answered from a clear, accurate understanding of what God had said. Knowing what you believe, plainly and confidently, is your first defence against doubt. Don't wait until you're being tested to work out what you actually believe and why.
"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. "
"but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, 'You must not eat it or even touch it, or you will die.'""
Notice Eve adds 'neither shall ye touch it,' a small addition to what God actually said. It's easy to let fear or misunderstanding quietly add extra rules to what God has genuinely asked of you. Go back to what God has actually said, rather than a stricter version you've built up yourself.
"And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: "
"The serpent said to the woman, "You will not certainly die."
The serpent's first move is a flat denial of consequence: 'ye shall not surely die.' Be wary of any voice, including your own, that tells you actions have no real consequences. Love for yourself and others includes being honest about consequences, not pretending they don't exist.
"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. "
"For God knows that on the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.""
The lie here is subtle: that God is withholding something good out of self-interest rather than love. When you're tempted to see God's boundaries as Him keeping something good from you, remember that His character is generosity, not jealousy. Suspicion of God's motives is often where sin truly begins.
"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. "
"When the woman saw that the fruit was good to eat, pleasing to look at, and desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it."
Eve's desire wasn't wrong in itself, wanting food, beauty, and wisdom are all good things; the sin was reaching for them outside of God's boundary. Wanting good things isn't the problem. Notice when you're tempted to get a good thing the wrong way, and choose patience over that shortcut.
"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. "
"Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves."
Shame arrived the moment trust broke, and their first instinct was to hide and cover up. When you feel that same instinct to hide, whether from God or from people who love you, recognise it for what it is, and remember that hiding never actually heals what's broken; honesty does.
"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. "
"Then they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden."
Adam and Eve hid from the very presence they used to walk with freely. Guilt can make you want to avoid the people, and the God, who love you most. Resist that instinct; the relationship that guilt tells you to run from is usually exactly where healing is waiting.
"And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? "
"But the LORD God called out to the man, "Where are you?""
God's question 'where art thou' wasn't about His ignorance; it was an invitation to come out of hiding. When you've done wrong, God is not hunting you down to condemn you; He is calling you gently towards honesty. Answer that call rather than staying hidden.
"And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. "
"The man replied, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.""
Adam names his fear honestly, even if he isn't yet ready to name his sin. Naming what you feel, even before you're ready to fully own what you did, is a real step forward. Don't wait for perfect honesty before you start being honest at all.
"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? "
"God asked, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree I commanded you not to eat from?""
God's follow-up question gently moves Adam from surface feelings towards the real issue underneath. True self-examination often takes more than one honest look. Be willing to keep asking yourself, and letting God ask you, what's really going on beneath the first thing you admit to.
"And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. "
"The man said, "The woman you gave me to be with me — she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.""
Adam's instinct is to point at Eve, and even at God Himself, rather than simply own his choice. Notice how easily blame deflects from ourselves onto others, even the people we love most. Real humility means owning your own part before you mention anyone else's.
"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. "
"Then the LORD God said to the woman, "What have you done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate.""
Eve, in turn, points to the serpent. This pattern of passing blame down the line rarely brings peace; it only spreads the hurt further. Break the chain when you can, by being the one who says 'this was my choice' rather than looking for somewhere else to lay it.
"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: "
"So the LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, you are cursed above all livestock and every wild animal; you will crawl on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life."
The serpent's punishment is public and permanent, a picture of how deception, left unchecked, brings real degradation. Take deception seriously, both the kind others might offer you and any small deceptions you're tempted to tell yourself. It costs more than it first appears to.
"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. "
"And I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.""
In the middle of judgement, God speaks a promise of ultimate victory over evil. Even in your hardest consequences, God is already planting the seeds of your restoration. Don't mistake a season of discipline for the end of the story; God rarely judges without also promising hope.
"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. "
"To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your pain in childbirth; in pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.""
Even as God names real pain ahead for Eve, He does not abandon her. Hard consequences and God's continued care are not opposites; you can be living with the results of past choices, your own or others', and still be held by a God who hasn't walked away.
"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; "
"To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree I commanded you not to eat from, the ground is cursed because of you; through painful labour you will eat from it all the days of your life."
Adam's punishment falls on the ground he depends on for life. Sin doesn't only affect the person who chooses it; it ripples outward into the world around them. Take seriously how your choices affect not just you, but the people and places that depend on you.
"Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; "
"It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field."
Thorns and thistles now make good work harder than it needed to be. When your efforts feel unfairly difficult, resist the temptation to give up. Difficult ground doesn't mean God has abandoned the work; it means the work now costs something real, and that's worth pushing through.
"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. "
"By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food, until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you will return.""
Even Adam's mortality is stated plainly here, without cruelty, simply as truth. You don't need to fear naming hard truths about your own limits and mortality. Facing them honestly, rather than avoiding them, is often what frees you to live the time you do have well.
"And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. "
"Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of every living person."
In the middle of judgement, Adam still names his wife 'life-giver,' an act of hope rather than despair. Even after failure, you can still choose to look forward rather than only backwards. Let your response to your own mistakes be marked by hope for what comes next, not just regret for what's past.
"Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. "
"The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them."
God's judgement doesn't stop Him from also clothing them with real care, better than what they'd made for themselves. However deserved you feel a consequence to be, remember that God's discipline and God's tenderness are never in conflict; He can hold both towards you at once.
"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: "
"Then the LORD God said, "Look, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, in case he reaches out and also takes fruit from the tree of life and eats it, and lives forever...""
God's decision to bar the way to the Tree of Life is protective, not punitive; living forever in brokenness would have been the real tragedy. Trust that even the limits and endings you don't understand may be God's way of protecting you from something worse than the thing you're grieving.
"Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. "
"So the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to work the ground he had been taken from."
Being sent from the garden meant hard work ahead, but it also meant life, not the eternal brokenness they might otherwise have faced. Some closed doors, painful as they feel, are actually God steering you away from a worse outcome. Trust the redirection even when you can't yet see its purpose.
"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. "
"So he drove the man out, and stationed cherubim and a flaming sword that flashed back and forth on the east side of the garden of Eden, to guard the way to the tree of life."
God guards the way back to the tree of life carefully, not carelessly. Whatever feels permanently closed off in your own life, remember that God's decisions, even the hard ones, come from the same careful attention that shaped the whole garden. He does not act on you carelessly.