The Story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden

⁴This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made them.

⁵Now no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth, nor had any plant of the field sprouted, for the LORD God had not yet sent rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.

⁶But springs welled up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.

⁷Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

⁸And the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, where He placed the man He had formed.

⁹Out of the ground the LORD God gave growth to every tree that is pleasing to the eye and good for food. And in the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

¹⁰Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it branched into four headwaters:

¹¹The name of the first river is the Pishon; it winds through the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.

¹²And the gold of that land is pure, and bdellium and onyx are found there.

¹³The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the whole land of Cush.

¹⁴The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵Then the LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.

¹⁶And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden,

¹⁷but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

¹⁸The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.”

¹⁹And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and He brought them to the man to see what he would name each one. And whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

²⁰The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.

²¹So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he slept, He took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the area with flesh.

²²And from the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man, He made a woman and brought her to him.

²³And the man said: “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man she was taken.”

²⁴For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

²⁵And the man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.

¹Now 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?’”

²The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden,

³but 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.’”

⁴“You will not surely die,” the serpent told the woman.

⁵“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.”

⁶When 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.

⁷And 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.

⁸Then 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.

⁹But the LORD God called out to the man, “Where are you?”

¹⁰“I heard Your voice in the garden,” he replied, “and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”

¹¹“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?”

¹²And the man answered, “The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

¹³Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied, “and I ate.”

¹⁴So 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.

¹⁵And 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.”

¹⁶To 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.”

¹⁷And 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.

¹⁸Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

¹⁹By 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.”

²⁰And Adam named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all the living.

²¹And the LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them.

²²Then 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...”

²³Therefore the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

²⁴So 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.