The Law · Chapter 3 of 50

Genesis 3

The serpent tempts the woman to doubt God's word, and she and Adam eat the forbidden fruit. Their eyes open to shame, and they hide from God. Called to account, they shift the blame. God pronounces judgment on the serpent, the woman, and the man, yet promises that the woman's seed will crush the serpent's head. He clothes them with skins and sends them from Eden, guarding the tree of life.

What happens in Genesis 3

The serpent, more subtle than any beast, questions God's command, suggesting the woman will not die but become like God, knowing good and evil. Seeing the tree as good, pleasant, and desirable, she eats and gives to Adam, who eats as well. Their eyes open; they realize they are naked, sew fig leaves, and hide from God among the trees. When God calls, Where art thou, Adam admits his fear and blames the woman, who blames the serpent. God curses the serpent to crawl and eat dust and declares enmity between its seed and the woman's, whose seed will bruise its head while it bruises his heel.

To the woman he multiplies pain in childbirth; to the man, toil and thorns and a return to the dust. Adam names his wife Eve, mother of all living. God makes them coats of skins and sends them out of Eden, placing cherubim and a flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 3 in context

This chapter explains how a world God called very good came to know sin, shame, and death. It follows immediately on the garden, the single prohibition, and the newly made couple. Often called the fall, it accounts for the brokenness every reader knows: alienation from God, conflict between people, painful labor, and mortality.

Yet within the judgment God speaks the first promise of rescue, and the whole rest of the Bible unfolds from this crisis and that hope.

Main themes of Genesis 3

Genesis 3 (KJV)

1Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 2And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 3But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 4And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 5For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. 8And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden. 9And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. 11And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? 12And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. 14And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. 16Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. 17And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. 20And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living. 21Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. 22And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 23Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. 24So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

Verses to carry from Genesis 3

“And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?”Genesis 3:9

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”Genesis 3:15

“Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”Genesis 3:21

Reflection

God's first word to fallen humanity was a question, Where art thou, not to gain information but to seek the ones who hid. When shame makes you want to cover up and stay away from God, how does it change things to know he comes looking for you, already preparing to clothe what you cannot?

A prayer from Genesis 3