Section 3 of 1043:1–24Genesis

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King James VersionGenesis 3:1–24

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?

And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

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.

And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

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.

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.

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.

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.

And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

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?

And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

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.

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:

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.

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.

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;

Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

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.

And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

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:

Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

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.

Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.

Scripture text: King James Version, Standardized 1769 text. Public domain in the United States.About this Bible text

Genesis 3:1–24

Mistrust, Disobedience, and Exile Fracture the Garden

How the command is recast

Genesis 3 begins after unashamed life in the garden. The serpent questions the woman, recasts God's command, denies the death warning, and offers godlike knowledge. The woman sees, takes, eats, and gives to the man with her; he eats. Their eyes open, and they cover themselves.

The story is not mainly a catalogue of later doctrines. It shows distrust of a generous God. A boundary is treated as deprivation. Then seeing leads to taking, and opened eyes lead to hiding.

Exposure, judgment, and remaining mercy

God's questions draw out fear, eating, and a chain of blame from the man to the woman to the serpent. Judgment then names damaged relationship, painful toil, and return to dust. The humans lose protected access to the garden and the tree of life.

Even here God still speaks, clothes them, and preserves human life. Genesis 3:16 describes damaged desire and rule; it does not make domination a holy command. The serpent in this scene is the crafty animal the narrator names; later identification with Satan is reception, not a label Genesis 3 itself supplies.

How this should shape us

When a desire is being justified, ask whether God's generosity has been reduced to one denied object. Confess your own part in harm before explaining another person's influence. Do not use this chapter to demand submission to domination or to leave people unprotected.

Teach it back

Explain how Genesis 3:1–24 reverses the good conditions of Genesis 2. Include what the humans do, how blame works, what consequences follow, and one later theological idea that should be labeled as later development rather than explicit wording in this chapter.

Explain the section in your own words

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Go deeper

The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.

Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties

Who or what is the serpent?

Best judgment: The immediate narrative presents a crafty speaking animal and leaves its larger identity unexplained. Later canonical spiritual identification is real reception and development, but it must be labeled as later rather than smuggled into verse 1.

How certain? probable

What does Genesis 3:15 promise?

Best judgment: The verse clearly announces enduring enmity and asymmetrical injury. Its collective and individual potential is disputed. Christian canonical reading reaches Christ through later Scripture, but the reader layer should not claim that every messianic detail is explicit in Genesis 3:15 alone.

How certain? probable

What does the woman's desire and the man's rule mean in Genesis 3:16?

Best judgment: The exact nuance is uncertain. The context clearly portrays damaged conditions rather than a command authorizing male domination. Any application that legitimizes coercion exceeds the passage.

How certain? probable

Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

Supports: Reader-facing Scripture wording, verse numbering, paragraph data, and supplied-word markup.

Pinned eBible/CrossWire standardized 1769 KJV corpus, Genesis 3:1–24

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible — Genesis

Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, clause structure, wordplay, and verse boundaries.

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible, wlc/Gen.xml, Genesis 3:1–24

NET Bible — Genesis with translators' notes

Supports: Material translation and grammatical questions involving craftiness, death, knowledge, offspring, strike/crush, desire, rule, toil, dust, and tree of life.

NET Bible, Genesis 3:1–24 translator and study notes

Genesis

Supports: Final-form movement, garden reversal, responsibility, judgment, preservation, and book-level offspring development.

Genesis commentary, section Genesis 3:1–24

Genesis 1–2: Creation — Study Guide

Supports: Critical literary and compositional context for the garden narratives.

Genesis 1–2 Creation Study Guide, discussion of Genesis 2–3 and composition

Genesis' Two Creation Accounts Compiled and Interpreted as One

Supports: Distinct-tradition and final-compilation proposal; used only as labeled compositional reconstruction.

Sections on the second creation account and Genesis 2:4–3:24

The Genesis of Good and Evil: The Fall(out) and Original Sin in the Bible

Supports: What Genesis 3 says and does not say, desire, fallout/fall terminology, and literary links to Genesis 4.

Publisher sample contents and chapter locators: chapters 3–5, pp. 35–74

Genesis 3:16—Text and Context

Supports: Genesis 3:16 Hebrew, social context, hardship, desire, rule, and the absence of a command authorizing hierarchy.

Religions 15.8 (2024), article 948, complete article

Recent Developments in the Interpretation of the Seed of the Woman in Genesis 3:15

Supports: Major collective, individual, original-messianic, and later-canonical arguments over Genesis 3:15.

JETS 64.2 (2021), pp. 215–236

Genesis 3:15 in the Pentateuchal Targums and in the New Testament: Enmity as a Spiritual Conflict

Supports: Targum and Revelation reception of Genesis 3:15 as natural, spiritual, collective, and messianic conflict.

JBTS 7.1 (2022), pp. 119–134

A serpente na narrativa de Gênesis 3: interpretações e tradições judaicas na Antiguidade

Supports: Documented diversity of ancient Jewish serpent interpretation; no unseen detailed claim is attributed.

USP dissertation repository record and bilingual abstracts

Genesis and the Twilight of the Gods

Supports: Immediate-text observation that Genesis describes a crafty animal without naming Satan; wider historical proposal remains labeled.

Sections discussing Genesis 2:4–3:24 and the serpent; published 2024, updated 2026

Myth, Meaning, and the Work of Life: Enuma Elish and the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:4–3:24) on the Value of Human Labor and Memory

Supports: Work and ground before and after disobedience and the comparative labor-and-memory proposal.

Religions 13.8 article, Genesis 2:4–3:24 labor, ground, mortality, and exile sections

Sources for This Section

These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Reader-facing Scripture wording, verse numbering, paragraph data, and supplied-word markup.

Exact location: Pinned eBible/CrossWire standardized 1769 KJV corpus, Genesis 3:1–24

Open source ↗

hebrew text morphology and lemma data

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible — Genesis

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project

Open Scriptures, Version 2.2 released 2021; repository inspected 2026

Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, clause structure, wordplay, and verse boundaries.

Exact location: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible, wlc/Gen.xml, Genesis 3:1–24

Open source ↗

Translation and textual notes

NET Bible — Genesis with translators' notes

Biblical Studies Press

Biblical Studies Press, Digital edition accessed 2026

Supports: Material translation and grammatical questions involving craftiness, death, knowledge, offspring, strike/crush, desire, rule, toil, dust, and tree of life.

Exact location: NET Bible, Genesis 3:1–24 translator and study notes

Open NET Genesis 3 ↗

modern open whole book commentary

Genesis

T. Desmond Alexander

The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, 2023

Supports: Final-form movement, garden reversal, responsibility, judgment, preservation, and book-level offspring development.

Exact location: Genesis commentary, section Genesis 3:1–24

Open source ↗

modern critical open study guide

Genesis 1–2: Creation — Study Guide

Joel S. Baden and Yale Bible Study

Yale Divinity School, 2021 course; page inspected 2026

Supports: Critical literary and compositional context for the garden narratives.

Exact location: Genesis 1–2 Creation Study Guide, discussion of Genesis 2–3 and composition

Open source ↗

modern scholarly open composition study

Genesis' Two Creation Accounts Compiled and Interpreted as One

Konrad Schmid

TheTorah.com, 2023; updated 2026

Supports: Distinct-tradition and final-compilation proposal; used only as labeled compositional reconstruction.

Exact location: Sections on the second creation account and Genesis 2:4–3:24

Open source ↗

modern scholarly exegesis and reception monograph

The Genesis of Good and Evil: The Fall(out) and Original Sin in the Bible

Mark S. Smith

Westminster John Knox Press, 2019

Supports: What Genesis 3 says and does not say, desire, fallout/fall terminology, and literary links to Genesis 4.

Exact location: Publisher sample contents and chapter locators: chapters 3–5, pp. 35–74

Open source ↗

peer reviewed open hebrew and social context study

Genesis 3:16—Text and Context

Carol Meyers

Religions 15.8, 2024

Supports: Genesis 3:16 Hebrew, social context, hardship, desire, rule, and the absence of a command authorizing hierarchy.

Exact location: Religions 15.8 (2024), article 948, complete article

Open source ↗

peer reviewed open evangelical interpretive survey

Recent Developments in the Interpretation of the Seed of the Woman in Genesis 3:15

Jonathan Cheek

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 64.2, 2021

Supports: Major collective, individual, original-messianic, and later-canonical arguments over Genesis 3:15.

Exact location: JETS 64.2 (2021), pp. 215–236

Open source ↗

peer reviewed open jewish and christian reception study

Genesis 3:15 in the Pentateuchal Targums and in the New Testament: Enmity as a Spiritual Conflict

Iosif J. Zhakevich

Journal of Biblical and Theological Studies 7.1, 2022

Supports: Targum and Revelation reception of Genesis 3:15 as natural, spiritual, collective, and messianic conflict.

Exact location: JBTS 7.1 (2022), pp. 119–134

Open source ↗

open access doctoral reception history dissertation

A serpente na narrativa de Gênesis 3: interpretações e tradições judaicas na Antiguidade

Christiane Tavares Ferreira da Silva

Universidade de São Paulo, 2021

Supports: Documented diversity of ancient Jewish serpent interpretation; no unseen detailed claim is attributed.

Exact location: USP dissertation repository record and bilingual abstracts

Open source ↗

modern jewish open critical essay

Genesis and the Twilight of the Gods

Norman Solomon

TheTorah.com, 2024; updated 2026

Supports: Immediate-text observation that Genesis describes a crafty animal without naming Satan; wider historical proposal remains labeled.

Exact location: Sections discussing Genesis 2:4–3:24 and the serpent; published 2024, updated 2026

Open source ↗

peer reviewed open comparative study

Myth, Meaning, and the Work of Life: Enuma Elish and the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:4–3:24) on the Value of Human Labor and Memory

Amy L. Balogh

Religions 13.8, 2022

Supports: Work and ground before and after disobedience and the comparative labor-and-memory proposal.

Exact location: Religions 13.8 article, Genesis 2:4–3:24 labor, ground, mortality, and exile sections

Open source ↗

Genesis 3:1–24, King James Version

How the command is recast

Exposure, judgment, and remaining mercy

How this should shape us

Teach it back

Go deeper

Who or what is the serpent?

What does Genesis 3:15 promise?

What does the woman's desire and the man's rule mean in Genesis 3:16?

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible — Genesis

NET Bible — Genesis with translators' notes

Genesis

Genesis 1–2: Creation — Study Guide

Genesis' Two Creation Accounts Compiled and Interpreted as One

The Genesis of Good and Evil: The Fall(out) and Original Sin in the Bible

Genesis 3:16—Text and Context

Recent Developments in the Interpretation of the Seed of the Woman in Genesis 3:15

Genesis 3:15 in the Pentateuchal Targums and in the New Testament: Enmity as a Spiritual Conflict

A serpente na narrativa de Gênesis 3: interpretações e tradições judaicas na Antiguidade

Genesis and the Twilight of the Gods

Myth, Meaning, and the Work of Life: Enuma Elish and the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:4–3:24) on the Value of Human Labor and Memory