Genesis 3:1-13

EasyEnglish Bible

The man and the woman turn away from God

3 The Lord God made many wild animals. But the snake was the most clever of them all. The snake asked the woman, ‘Did God say, “You must not eat the fruit from any tree in the garden”? Is that really true?’

² The woman replied, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. ³ But God said, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not even touch it. If you do that, you will die.” ’

⁴ Then the snake said to the woman, ‘No, you will not die. ⁵ God knows that when you eat the fruit from this tree, you will understand things. You will become like God himself. You will know about good things and evil things.’^[a]

⁶ The woman looked at the fruit on the tree. She saw that it would be good to eat, and it was beautiful to look at. She wanted to eat it because it would make her become wise. So she took some fruit and she ate it. Then she gave some of the fruit to her husband who was with her. He also ate it.

⁷ Then they understood what they had done.^[b] They realized that they were not wearing any clothes. So they took some leaves from fig trees. They tied them together to cover their bodies.

⁸ In the evening there was a nice cool wind. The Lord God walked in the garden. The man and the woman heard the sound of the Lord God. They hid themselves behind some trees, so that God would not see them. ⁹ The Lord God called out to the man. He said to him, ‘Where are you?’

¹⁰ The man replied, ‘I heard you in the garden. I was afraid because I had no clothes. So I hid myself from you.’

¹¹ The Lord God said, ‘Who told you that you had no clothes? Have you eaten fruit from the tree that I said you must not eat?’

¹² The man said, ‘It was the woman that you put here with me. She gave me some fruit from the tree. So I ate it.’

¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘Why have you done a thing like that?’ The woman replied, ‘It was the snake. The snake deceived me with a lie. So I ate the fruit.’