Genesis 3-5
Expanded Bible
The Beginning of Sin
3 Now the ·snake [serpent] was the most ·clever [shrewd; cunning; crafty] of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day the snake said to the woman, “Did God really say that you must not eat fruit from any tree in the garden?”
2 The woman answered the snake [3:1], “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. 3 But God told us, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden [C the tree of the knowledge of good and evil]. You must not even touch it [C Eve was adding to the divine command], or you will die.’ ”
4 But the snake [3:1] said to the woman, “You will [L most certainly] not die. 5 [L For] God knows that if you eat ·the fruit from that tree [L from it], [L your eyes will be opened and] you will ·learn about [experience; L know about] good and evil and you will be like God!”
6 The woman saw that the tree was ·beautiful [L pleasing to the eyes], that its fruit was good ·to eat [L for food], and that it would make her wise. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of the fruit to her husband who was with her [C apparently he was present but silent while the woman spoke to the snake], and he ate it.
7 Then, ·it was as if their eyes [L the eyes of both of them] were opened. They ·realized [knew] they were naked, so they sewed fig leaves together and made ·something to cover [L loincloths for] themselves [Rom. 5:12–21].
8 Then they heard the [L sound of the] Lord God walking in the garden during the cool part of the day, and the man and his wife hid from the Lord God among the trees in the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said, “Where are you?”
10 The man answered, “I heard ·you walking in the garden [L your voice/sound], and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”
11 ·God [L He] asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat fruit from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?”
12 The man said, “You gave this woman to me and she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “·How could you have done such a thing [What is this you have done]?”
She answered, “The snake ·tricked [deceived; 1 Tim. 2:14] me, so I ate the fruit.”
14 The Lord God said to the ·snake [serpent],
“Because you did this,
a curse will be put on you.
You will be cursed as no other animal, ·tame [beasts; livestock] or ·wild [L of the field], will ever be.
You will ·crawl [go] on your ·stomach [belly],
and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
15 I will ·make you and the woman
enemies to each other [T place hostility/enmity between you and the woman].
Your ·descendants [L seed] and her ·descendants [L seed]
will be enemies.
·One of her descendants [L He] will crush your head,
and you will ·bite [strike; T bruise; L crush] his heel [Rom. 16:20; Rev. 12:9].”
16 Then God said to the woman,
“I will ·cause you to have much trouble [or increase your pain]
·when you are pregnant [in childbearing],
and when you give birth to children,
you will have great pain.
You will greatly desire [C the word implies a desire to control; 4:7] your husband,
but he will rule over you.”
17 Then God said to ·the man [or Adam; 1:27], “You listened to what your wife said, and you ate fruit from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat.
“·So I will put a curse on [Cursed is] the ground,
and you will have to ·work very hard [toil; labor] for your food.
In pain you will eat its food
all the days of your life.
18 The ground will produce thorns and ·weeds [thistles] for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 ·You will sweat and work hard for [L By the sweat of your brow you will eat] your food.
Later you will return to the ground,
because you were taken from it.
You are dust,
and ·when you die, you will return to the dust [T to dust you will return; 1 Cor. 15:21-22, 40–45].”
20 The man named his wife Eve [C the name derives from an early form of the verb “to live”], because she was the mother of all the living.
21 The Lord God made clothes from animal skins for ·the man [or Adam; 1:27] and his wife and dressed them. 22 Then the Lord God said, “Humans have become like one of us [C referring to the supernatural heavenly beings, God and the angels]; they know good and evil. We must keep them from [L putting forth their hand and taking and] eating some of the fruit from the tree of life, or they will live forever.” 23 So the Lord God ·forced [expelled] Adam out of the garden of Eden to ·work [till; or care for; 2:5] the ground from which he was taken. 24 After God ·forced [drove] humans out of the garden, he placed ·angels [L cherubim; C particularly powerful spiritual beings] and a sword of fire that flashed around in every direction on its eastern border. ·This kept people from getting […to guard the way] to the tree of life.
The First Family
4 ·Adam [L The man; 1:27] ·had sexual relations with [L knew] his wife Eve, and she ·became pregnant [conceived] and gave birth to Cain. Eve said, “With the Lord’s help, I have ·given birth to [L produced; or acquired; C the verb resembles Cain’s name] a man.” 2 After that, Eve gave birth to Cain’s brother Abel [C resembles the word for vapor or breath]. Abel took care of flocks, and Cain ·became a farmer [L was a tiller/worker of the ground].
3 ·Later [In due course; L At the end of the days], Cain brought some ·food [produce; fruit] from the ground as a ·gift [tribute; Lev. 2] to God. 4 Abel brought the ·best parts [fat portions; Lev. 3:16] from some of the firstborn of his flock [Heb. 11:4]. The Lord ·accepted [looked with favor on] Abel and his ·gift [tribute], 5 but he did not ·accept [look with favor on] Cain and his ·gift [tribute]. So Cain became very angry and ·felt rejected [or felt dejected; L his face/countenance fell].
6 The Lord asked Cain, “Why are you angry? Why ·do you look so unhappy [L has your face/countenance fallen; 4:5]? 7 If you do things ·well [correctly; appropriately], ·I will [L will I not…?] accept you, but if you do not do them ·well [correctly; appropriately], sin is ·ready to attack you [L crouching at the door]. Sin ·wants [desires to control; 3:16] you, but you must rule over it.”
8 Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out into the field.”[a] While they were out in the field, Cain ·attacked [L rose up against] his brother Abel and killed him [Matt. 23:35; Luke 11:51; Heb. 12:24; 1 John 3:11–12; Jude 11].
9 Later, the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
Cain answered, “I don’t know. ·Is it my job to take care of my brother [T Am I my brother’s keeper]?”
10 Then the Lord said, “What have you done? Your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground. 11 And now you will be cursed ·in your work with [L and banished from] the ground, ·the same ground where your brother’s blood fell and where your hands killed him [L which has opened its mouth to take the blood of your brother from your hand]. 12 You will ·work [till] the ground, but it will not ·grow good crops [L yield its strength] for you anymore, and you will ·wander around [be a fugitive and a wanderer/homeless wanderer] on the earth.”
13 Then Cain said to the Lord, “This punishment is more than I can ·stand [bear]! 14 Today you have forced me ·to stop working [L from] the ground, and now I ·must hide from you [or will be hidden from your face]. I ·must wander around [L will be a fugitive and wanderer/homeless wanderer] on the earth, and anyone who ·meets [finds] me can kill me.”
15 The Lord said to Cain, “No! If anyone kills you, I will ·punish [avenge] that person seven times more.” Then the Lord put a mark [C the nature of the mark is uncertain] on Cain warning anyone who ·met [finds] him not to kill him.
Cain’s Family
16 So Cain went away from the Lord and lived in the land of Nod [C resembles a Hebrew word meaning “wanderer”], east of Eden. 17 He ·had sexual relations with [L knew; 4:1] his wife, and she ·became pregnant [conceived] and gave birth to Enoch. At that time ·Cain [L he] was building a city, which he named after his son Enoch. 18 ·Enoch had a son named [L To Enoch was born; C and so through the rest of the genealogy] Irad, Irad had a son named Mehujael, Mehujael had a son named Methushael, and Methushael had a son named Lamech.
19 Lamech ·married [L took] two ·women [or wives], [L the name of the first was] Adah and [L the name of the second was] Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal, who ·became the first person to [L was the father of those who] live in tents and raise ·cattle [livestock]. 21 Jabal’s brother was Jubal, the ·first person to [L father of all who] play the ·harp [or lyre] and ·flute [pipe]. 22 Zillah gave birth to Tubal-Cain, who made tools out of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.
23 Lamech said to his wives:
“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice!
You wives of Lamech, listen to what I say.
I killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for hitting me.
24 If ·Cain’s killer is punished [L Cain is avenged] seven times [4:15],
then ·Lamech’s killer will be punished [L Lamech will be avenged] seventy-seven times.” [C Lamech falsely thought he could get away with murder.]
Adam and Eve Have a New Son
25 Adam ·had sexual relations with [L knew; 4:1] his wife Eve again, and she gave birth to a son. She named him Seth [C related to the Hebrew word for “give” or “appoint”] and said, “God has ·given [appointed for] me another child. He will take the place of Abel, who was killed by Cain.” 26 Seth also had a son, and they named him Enosh. At that time people began to ·pray to [L call on the name of] the Lord.
Adam’s Family History
5 This is the ·family history [L book of the generations; see 2:4] of Adam. When God created ·human beings [humankind; T man; C Hebrew Adam; 1:27–28], he made them in his own likeness. 2 He created them male and female, and on that day he blessed them and named them ·human beings [humankind; or Adam; T man].
3 When Adam was 130 years old, he became the father of another son in his likeness and image [C indicating he was like Adam and that he also bore God’s image], and Adam named him Seth [4:25]. 4 After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 5 So Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died [C the long lives in this genealogy indicate God’s blessing; these names are also in Jesus’ genealogy in Luke 3:36–38].
6 When Seth was 105 years old, he had a son named Enosh. 7 After Enosh was born, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. 8 So Seth lived a total of 912 years, and then he died.
9 When Enosh was 90 years old, he had a son named Kenan. 10 After Kenan was born, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. 11 So Enosh lived a total of 905 years, and then he died.
12 When Kenan was 70 years old, he had a son named Mahalalel. 13 After Mahalalel was born, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. 14 So Kenan lived a total of 910 years, and then he died.
15 When Mahalalel was 65 years old, he had a son named Jared. 16 After Jared was born, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. 17 So Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years, and then he died.
18 When Jared was 162 years old, he had a son named Enoch. 19 After Enoch was born, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 So Jared lived a total of 962 years, and then he died.
21 When Enoch was 65 years old, he had a son named Methuselah. 22 After Methuselah was born, Enoch walked with God 300 years more and had other sons and daughters. 23 So Enoch lived a total of 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God [C he had a close relationship with God; Heb. 11:5–6]; one day Enoch could not be found, because God took him [C like Elijah (2 Kin. 2:11), he did not die].
25 When Methuselah was 187 years old, he had a son named Lamech. 26 After Lamech was born, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. 27 So Methuselah lived a total of 969 years, and then he died.
28 When Lamech was 182, he had a son. 29 Lamech named his son Noah [C the name resembles the Hebrew word for “rest”] and said, “He will ·comfort us in [or give us rest from] our work, which comes from the ground the Lord has cursed [3:17–19].” 30 After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. 31 So Lamech lived a total of 777 years, and then he died.
32 After Noah was 500 years old, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth [9:18–29; 10].
Footnotes
- Genesis 4:8 Cain…field This sentence appears in some Greek copies, but not in the Hebrew text.
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