1. The serpent was more clever than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. The serpent said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat the fruit of any tree that is in the garden'?"
2. The woman said to the serpent, "We can eat the fruit of the trees that are in the garden.
3. But God did say, 'You must not eat the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden. Do not even touch it. If you do, you will die.' "
4. "You can be sure that you won't die," the serpent said to the woman.
5. "God knows that when you eat the fruit of that tree, you will know things you have never known before. You will be able to tell the difference between good and evil. You will be like God."
6. The woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good to eat. It was also pleasing to look at. And it would make a person wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her. And he ate it.
7. Then both of them knew things they had never known before. They realized they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made clothes for themselves.
8. Then the man and his wife heard the Lord God walking in the garden. It was the coolest time of the day. They hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
9. But the Lord God called out to the man. "Where are you?" he asked.
10. "I heard you in the garden," the man answered. "I was afraid. I was naked, so I hid."
11. The Lord God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten the fruit of the tree I commanded you not to eat?"
12. The man said, "It was the woman you put here with me. She gave me some fruit from the tree. And I ate it."
13. Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What have you done?" The woman said, "The serpent tricked me. That's why I ate the fruit."
14. So the Lord God spoke to the serpent. He said, "Because you have done this, "I am putting a curse on you. You are cursed more than all of the livestock and all of the wild animals. You will crawl on the ground. You will eat dust all of the days of your life.
15. I will put hatred between you and the woman. Your children and her children will be enemies. Her son will crush your head. And you will crush his heel."
16. The Lord God said to the woman, "I will greatly increase your pain when you give birth. You will be in pain when you have children. You will long for your husband. And he will rule over you."
17. The Lord God said to Adam, "You listened to your wife. You ate the fruit of the tree that I commanded you about. I said, 'You must not eat its fruit.' "So I am putting a curse on the ground because of what you did. All the days of your life you will have to work hard to get food from the ground.
18. You will eat the plants of the field, even though the ground produces thorns and thistles.
19. You will have to work hard and sweat a lot to produce the food you eat. You were made out of the ground. And you will return to it. You are dust. So you will return to it."
20. Adam named his wife Eve. She would become the mother of every living person.
21. The Lord God made clothes out of animal skins for Adam and his wife to wear.
22. The Lord God said, "The man has become like one of us. He can now tell the difference between good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and pick fruit from the tree of life and eat it. If he does, he will live forever."
23. So the Lord God drove the man out of the Garden of Eden to work the ground he had been made out of.