Genesis 3:12-22

12 The Man said, "The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it."

13 God said to the Woman, "What is this that you've done?" "The serpent seduced me," she said, "and I ate."

14 God told the serpent: "Because you've done this, you're cursed, cursed beyond all cattle and wild animals, Cursed to slink on your belly and eat dirt all your life.

15 I'm declaring war between you and the Woman, between your offspring and hers. He'll wound your head, you'll wound his heel."

16 He told the Woman: "I'll multiply your pains in childbirth; you'll give birth to your babies in pain. You'll want to please your husband, but he'll lord it over you."

17 He told the Man: "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree That I commanded you not to eat from, 'Don't eat from this tree,' The very ground is cursed because of you; getting food from the ground Will be as painful as having babies is for your wife; you'll be working in pain all your life long.

18 The ground will sprout thorns and weeds, you'll get your food the hard way, Planting and tilling and harvesting,

19 sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk, Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried; you started out as dirt, you'll end up dirt."

20 The Man, known as Adam, named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living.

21 God made leather clothing for Adam and his wife and dressed them.

22 God said, "The Man has become like one of us, capable of knowing everything, ranging from good to evil. What if he now should reach out and take fruit from the Tree-of-Life and eat, and live forever? Never - this cannot happen!"

Genesis 3:12-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 3

In this chapter an account is given of the temptation of our first parents, of the instrument of it, and of their fall into it, and of the effect of it, Ge 3:1-7 their summons upon it to appear before God, against whom they had sinned, Ge 3:8-10 their examination by him, and the excuses they made, Ge 3:11-13 the various sentences passed of the serpent, the woman, and the man, Ge 3:14-19 some incidental things recorded, expressive of faith and hope in man, and of favour to him, Ge 3:20,21 and his expulsion from the garden of Eden, Ge 3:22-24.