God plants a garden in Eden for Adam and forbids him one tree: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. From one of Adam’s ribs God builds a woman, and the two live there without shame. Then the snake, more cunning than any other wild animal, tells the woman she will not die if she eats.
When God made the earth and the sky, no plant had yet come up in the fields and no grass had sprouted, because God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground. But a mist rose from the earth and watered all the land.
Then God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
God planted a garden in the east, in Eden, and put the man there. Out of the ground he made every kind of tree grow, trees that were lovely to look at and good for food. In the middle of the garden stood the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it split into four rivers.
God set the man in the garden of Eden to tend it and look after it, and he gave him a command.
“You may eat freely from every tree in the garden,” God said, “but you shall not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. On the day you eat from it, you shall surely die.”
Then God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is right for him.”
So out of the ground God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. Adam gave names to the tame animals, the wild ones, and every bird in the sky, but among them all there was no helper who was right for him.
God put Adam into a deep sleep. While he slept, God took one of his ribs and closed up the place with flesh. From the rib he built a woman, and he brought her to Adam.
Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
That is why a man leaves his father and his mother and holds fast to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh.
The man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.
Now the snake was more cunning than any other wild animal God had made. It said to the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?”
“We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden,” the woman told the snake. “But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You shall not eat it, and you shall not touch it, or you will die.’”
“You will not die,” said the snake. “God knows that on the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, knowing good and evil.”
The woman looked at the tree. Its fruit was good to eat and lovely to see, and she longed for the wisdom it could give. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. She gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it too.
At once their eyes were opened, and they saw that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.
In the cool of the day they heard God walking in the garden, and Adam and his wife hid from him among the trees.
God called to Adam, “Where are you?”
“I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked,” Adam answered. “So I hid.”
“Who told you that you were naked?” God asked. “Have you eaten from the tree I commanded you not to eat from?”
“The woman you put here with me gave me fruit from the tree,” said Adam, “and I ate it.”
God asked the woman, “What have you done?”
“The snake tricked me,” the woman said, “and I ate.”
God said to the snake, “Because you have done this, you are cursed above all the animals, tame and wild. You shall crawl on your belly, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. I will make you and the woman enemies, and your offspring and hers. Her offspring will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
To the woman God said, “I will make your pain great when you have children; in pain you will bring them into the world. You will long for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
And to Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree I told you not to eat from, the ground is cursed because of you. All the days of your life you will toil to get your food from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. You are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Then Adam named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all living.
God made clothes of animal skins for Adam and Eve and dressed them.
Then God said, “The man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand, take fruit from the tree of life as well, eat it, and live forever.”
So God sent Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden, and Adam was to work the ground he had been taken from. At the east of the garden God placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way, to guard the path to the tree of life.
Retold by Talerie from King James Version (opens in a new window) Public domain Copy this text, adapt it, use it however you like. A link back to Talerie is appreciated but never required. CC0 1.0 (opens in a new window)