Dual Panel1THE serpent, which was the most cunning of all the creatures the LORD God had made, asked the woman, “Is it true that God has forbidden you to eat from any tree in the garden?”
2She replied, “We may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden,
3except for the tree in the middle of the garden. God has forbidden us to eat the fruit of that tree or even to touch it; if we do, we shall die.”
4“Of course you will not die,” said the serpent;
5“for God knows that, as soon as you eat it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God himself, knowing both good and evil.”
6The woman looked at the tree: the fruit would be good to eat; it was pleasing to the eye and desirable for the knowledge it could give. So she took some and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, and he ate it.
7Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they stitched fig-leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
8The man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God walking about in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid from him among the trees.
9The LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10He replied, “I heard the sound of you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”
11God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree which I forbade you to eat from?”
12The man replied, “It was the woman you gave to be with me who gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13The LORD God said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman answered, “It was the serpent who deceived me into eating it.”
14Then the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this you are cursed alone of all cattle and the creatures of the wild. “On your belly you will crawl, and dust you will eat all the days of your life.
15I shall put enmity between you and the woman, between your brood and hers. They will strike at your head, and you will strike at their heel.”
16To the woman he said: “I shall give you great labour in childbearing; with labour you will bear children. You will desire your husband, but he will be your master.”
17And to the man he said: “Because you have listened to your wife and have eaten from the tree which I forbade you, on your account the earth will be cursed. You will get your food from it only by labour all the days of your life;
18it will yield thorns and thistles for you. You will eat of the produce of the field,
19and only by the sweat of your brow will you win your bread until you return to the earth; for from it you were taken. Dust you are, to dust you will return.”
20The man named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all living beings.
21The LORD God made coverings from skins for the man and his wife and clothed them.
22But he said, “The man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; what if he now reaches out and takes fruit from the tree of life also, and eats it and lives for ever?”
23So the LORD God banished him from the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he had been taken.
24When he drove him out, God settled him to the east of the garden of Eden, and he stationed the cherubim and a sword whirling and flashing to guard the way to the tree of life.