Dual Panel1The snake was sneakier than any of the other wild animals that the LORD God had made. One day it came to the woman and asked, "Did God tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?"
2The woman answered, "God said we could eat fruit from any tree in the garden,
3except the one in the middle. He told us not to eat fruit from that tree or even to touch it. If we do, we will die."
4"No, you won't!" the snake replied.
5"God understands what will happen on the day you eat fruit from that tree. You will see what you have done, and you will know the difference between right and wrong, just as God does."
6The woman stared at the fruit. It looked beautiful and tasty. She wanted the wisdom that it would give her, and she ate some of the fruit. Her husband was there with her, so she gave some to him, and he ate it too.
7Right away they saw what they had done, and they realized they were naked. Then they sewed fig leaves together to make something to cover themselves.
8Late in the afternoon a breeze began to blow, and the man and woman heard the LORD God walking in the garden. They were frightened and hid behind some trees.
9The LORD called out to the man and asked, "Where are you?"
10The man answered, "I was naked, and when I heard you walking through the garden, I was frightened and hid!"
11"How did you know you were naked?" God asked. "Did you eat any fruit from that tree in the middle of the garden?"
12"It was the woman you put here with me," the man said. "She gave me some of the fruit, and I ate it."
13The LORD God then asked the woman, "What have you done?" "The snake tricked me," she answered. "And I ate some of that fruit."
14So the LORD God said to the snake: "Because of what you have done, you will be the only animal to suffer this curse-- For as long as you live, you will crawl on your stomach and eat dirt.
15You and this woman will hate each other; your descendants and hers will always be enemies. One of hers will strike you on the head, and you will strike him on the heel."
16Then the LORD said to the woman, "You will suffer terribly when you give birth. But you will still desire your husband, and he will rule over you."
17The LORD said to the man, "You listened to your wife and ate fruit from that tree. And so, the ground will be under a curse because of what you did. As long as you live, you will have to struggle to grow enough food.
18Your food will be plants, but the ground will produce thorns and thistles.
19You will have to sweat to earn a living; you were made out of soil, and you will once again turn into soil."
20The man Adam named his wife Eve because she would become the mother of all who live.
21Then the LORD God made clothes out of animal skins for the man and his wife.
22The LORD said, "These people now know the difference between right and wrong, just as we do. But they must not be allowed to eat fruit from the tree that lets them live forever."
23So the LORD God sent them out of the Garden of Eden, where they would have to work the ground from which the man had been made.
24Then God put winged creatures at the entrance to the garden and a flaming, flashing sword to guard the way to the life-giving tree.