The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 Now the snake was wiser than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God truly said that you may not take of the fruit of any tree in the garden?
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Now the snake was the most cunning animal that the Lord God had made. The snake asked the woman, "Did God really tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?"
2 And the woman said, We may take of the fruit of the trees in the garden:
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"We may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden," the woman answered,
3 But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, If you take of it or put your hands on it, death will come to you.
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"except the tree in the middle of it. God told us not to eat the fruit of that tree or even touch it; if we do, we will die."
4 And the snake said, Death will not certainly come to you:
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The snake replied, "That's not true; you will not die.
5 For God sees that on the day when you take of its fruit, your eyes will be open, and you will be as gods, having knowledge of good and evil.
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God said that because he knows that when you eat it, you will be like God and know what is good and what is bad."
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and a delight to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and gave it to her husband.
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The woman saw how beautiful the tree was and how good its fruit would be to eat, and she thought how wonderful it would be to become wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, and he also ate it.
7 And their eyes were open and they were conscious that they had no clothing and they made themselves coats of leaves stitched together.
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As soon as they had eaten it, they were given understanding and realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and covered themselves.
8 And there came to them the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the evening wind: and the man and his wife went to a secret place among the trees of the garden, away from the eyes of the Lord God.
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That evening they heard the Lord God walking in the garden, and they hid from him among the trees.
9 And the voice of the Lord God came to the man, saying, Where are you?
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But the Lord God called out to the man, "Where are you?"
10 And he said, Hearing your voice in the garden I was full of fear, because I was without clothing: and I kept myself from your eyes.
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He answered, "I heard you in the garden; I was afraid and hid from you, because I was naked."
11 And he said, Who gave you the knowledge that you were without clothing? Have you taken of the fruit of the tree which I said you were not to take?
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"Who told you that you were naked?" God asked. "Did you eat the fruit that I told you not to eat?"
12 And the man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree and I took it.
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The man answered, "The woman you put here with me gave me the fruit, and I ate it."
13 And the Lord God said to the woman, What have you done? And the woman said, I was tricked by the deceit of the snake and I took it.
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The Lord God asked the woman, "Why did you do this?" She replied, "The snake tricked me into eating it."
14 And the Lord God said to the snake, Because you have done this you are cursed more than all cattle and every beast of the field; you will go flat on the earth, and dust will be your food all the days of your life:
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Then the Lord God said to the snake, "You will be punished for this; you alone of all the animals must bear this curse: From now on you will crawl on your belly, and you will have to eat dust as long as you live.
15 And there will be war between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed: by him will your head be crushed and by you his foot will be wounded.
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I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's heel."
16 To the woman he said, Great will be your pain in childbirth; in sorrow will your children come to birth; still your desire will be for your husband, but he will be your master.
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And he said to the woman, "I will increase your trouble in pregnancy and your pain in giving birth. In spite of this, you will still have desire for your husband, yet you will be subject to him."
17 And to Adam he said, Because you gave ear to the voice of your wife and took of the fruit of the tree which I said you were not to take, the earth is cursed on your account; in pain you will get your food from it all your life.
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And he said to the man, "You listened to your wife and ate the fruit which I told you not to eat. Because of what you have done, the ground will be under a curse. You will have to work hard all your life to make it produce enough food for you.
18 Thorns and waste plants will come up, and the plants of the field will be your food;
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It will produce weeds and thorns, and you will have to eat wild plants.
19 With the hard work of your hands you will get your bread till you go back to the earth from which you were taken: for dust you are and to the dust you will go back.
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You will have to work hard and sweat to make the soil produce anything, until you go back to the soil from which you were formed. You were made from soil, and you will become soil again."
20 And the man gave his wife the name of Eve because she was the mother of all who have life.
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Adam named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all human beings.
21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins for their clothing.
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And the Lord God made clothes out of animal skins for Adam and his wife, and he clothed them.
22 And the Lord God said, Now the man has become like one of us, having knowledge of good and evil; and now if he puts out his hand and takes of the fruit of the tree of life, he will go on living for ever.
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Then the Lord God said, "Now these human beings have become like one of us and have knowledge of what is good and what is bad. They must not be allowed to take fruit from the tree that gives life, eat it, and live forever."
23 So the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to be a worker on the earth from which he was taken.
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So the Lord God sent them out of the Garden of Eden and made them cultivate the soil from which they had been formed.
24 So he sent the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden he put winged ones and a flaming sword turning every way to keep the way to the tree of life.
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Then at the east side of the garden he put living creatures and a flaming sword which turned in all directions. This was to keep anyone from coming near the tree that gives life.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.