Genesis 3:17-24

17 Then he said to the man, "You listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree, although I commanded you, 'You must never eat its fruit.' The ground is cursed because of you. Through hard work you will eat [food that comes] from it every day of your life.

18 The ground will grow thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat wild plants.

19 By the sweat of your brow, you will produce food to eat until you return to the ground, because you were taken from it. You are dust, and you will return to dust."

20 Adam named his wife Eve [Life] because she became the mother of every living person.

21 The LORD God made clothes from animal skins for the man and his wife and dressed them.

22 Then the LORD God said, "The man has become like one of us, since he knows good and evil. He must not reach out and take the fruit from the tree of life and eat. Then he would live forever."

23 So the LORD God sent the man out of the Garden of Eden to farm the ground from which the man had been formed.

24 After he sent the man out, God placed angels and a flaming sword that turned in all directions east of the Garden of Eden. He placed them there to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 3:17-24 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.