Genesis 3
The serpent deceives Eve into eating the forbidden fruit, and Adam follows. Their disobedience brings sin, shame, and death into the world. God pronounces curses but also promises that the seed of the woman will crush the serpent's head.
GenesisChapter 3 of 5024 versesBerean Standard Bible
Read Genesis 3 and keep notes on it in Doxa's Daily Faith Steps.
Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”
The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden,
but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You must not eat of it or touch it, or you will die.’”
“You will not surely die,” the serpent told the woman.
“For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 38: What does it mean that God opened her eyes?
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
Through one man's disobedience many were made sinners — through Christ made righteous
“For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”
Read Romans 5:19›And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed together fig leaves and made coverings for themselves.
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 13: Why does this read like the garden again?
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 38: What does it mean that God opened her eyes?
Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
Quoted in the Daily Lift, day 5: What does it mean that Enoch walked with God?
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 5: What does 'walked with God' mean in Hebrew?
But the LORD God called out to the man, “Where are you?”
“I heard Your voice in the garden,” he replied, “and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
“Who told you that you were naked?” asked the LORD God. “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
And the man answered, “The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied, “and I ate.”
So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life.
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 13: What is the curse, and what is the blessing?
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 4: How does the promised line survive Genesis 4?
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 7: What is the first covenant in the Bible?
Quoted in the Daily Lift, day 17: How does this quiet list point to Jesus?
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 17: How does this genealogy point to Jesus?
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 49: Why is Jacob's name connected to the heel?
Seed of the woman — born of a woman to crush the serpent
“But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,”
Read Galatians 4:4›God of peace will crush Satan under your feet
“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”
Read Romans 16:20›The ancient serpent defeated
“And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.”
Read Revelation 12:9›Son of God appeared to destroy the devil's work
“The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil.”
Read 1 John 3:8›To the woman He said: “I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth; in pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
Quoted in the Daily Lift, day 4: What does it mean that sin is crouching at your door?
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 4: How does Cain's warning echo Genesis 3?
And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 6: What do the words behind God's 'regret' and His 'grief' mean?
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 13: Why does this read like the garden again?
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 19: Whose families get blessed, and why does the word matter?
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 27: Why does "Abram listened to the voice of Sarai" echo the Fall?
Creation subjected to frustration in Adam — liberated through Christ
“For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope”
Read Romans 8:20›Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 2: What does "formed" mean in Genesis 2:7?
And Adam named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all the living.
And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them.
Quoted in the Daily Lift, day 13: How does this point to Jesus?
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 13: Why does this read like the garden again?
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 38: Sarah's demand and the old law
God made garments of skin to cover Adam and Eve's shame — the first sacrifice. Revelation's redeemed wear 'robes washed white in the blood of the Lamb.' From first covering to final clothing.
““Sir,” I answered, “you know.” So he replied, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
Read Revelation 7:14›Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. And now, lest he reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever...”
Therefore the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
So He drove out the man and stationed cherubim on the east side of the Garden of Eden, along with a whirling sword of flame to guard the way to the tree of life.
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 38: Sarah's demand and the old law
Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 47: Why did Abraham send Keturah's sons to the east?
Barred from tree of life — blessed are those who may go through the gates and eat from the tree of life
“Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by its gates.”
Read Revelation 22:14›Read next
How to Hear God’s Voice: A Practical Guide for BelieversScripture is the record of a God who speaks. This guide covers how to hear Him today and keep what He says.Cross-references for Genesis 3
“I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.”
“For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world.”
“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”
“The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil.”
“to be self-controlled, pure, managers of their households, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be discredited.”
Cross-references from OpenBible.info, licensed CC BY.
Genesis 3 on Doxa
- The Fall of Man: The First Promise God Made in the Ruins (Genesis 3) · Daily Lift, day 3
- Did God Really Say? How the Serpent Bent One Sentence in Genesis 3 · Deeper Dive, day 3
- Ishmael's Unspoken Name and the Well Hagar Could Not See (Genesis 21) · Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 38
- Shem, Ham, and Japheth: The Cloak That Covered Noah's Shame (Genesis 9) · Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 13
- Enoch Walked With God: The One Man in Genesis 5 Who Didn't Die · Quoted in the Daily Lift, day 5
- Walking With God: How Enoch's Verb Ends in a Son Named Comfort (Genesis 5) · Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 5
- Sin Is Crouching at Your Door: What the Hebrew of Genesis 4 Reveals · Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 4
- Pitch and Atonement: The Hidden Word in Noah's Ark (Genesis 6:9-22) · Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 7
- From Shem to Abram: The Genealogy God Kept After Babel (Genesis 11:10-26) · Quoted in the Daily Lift, day 17
- Shem Means Name: The Genealogy That Answers Babel (Genesis 11:10-26) · Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 17
- Why Jacob's Name Was a Warning Israel Had to Hear (Genesis 25:19–26) · Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 49
- Cain and Abel: God's Warning Before the First Murder (Genesis 4) · Quoted in the Daily Lift, day 4
- Grieved to His Heart: How God's Pain Becomes Noah's Grace (Genesis 6:1-8) · Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 6
- Go From Your Country: The Command That Made Abram a Nation (Genesis 12) · Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 19
- Sarai's Shortcut to a Son: The House Only God Builds (Genesis 16) · Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 27
- Adam and Eve: How a Potter's Hands Made a Soul (Genesis 2) · Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 2
- The Curse of Canaan: Noah's Worst Day and the Promise That Held (Genesis 9) · Quoted in the Daily Lift, day 13
- 'Gathered to His People' Came Before the Burial (Genesis 25:1–11) · Quoted in the Deeper Dive, day 47
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