Commentary
Summary
The snake convinces the woman to eat from the forbidden tree, and she also gives her husband to eat. Yahweh punishes all three and expels the man from Eden lest he eat from the tree of life and live forever. The man names his wife Eve.
Outline
1-6. Eating the forbidden fruit
1-5. The snake convinces the woman to eat from the forbidden tree
6. The woman and man eat
7-13. The sin is revealed
7. The couple realize they are naked and cover themselves with leaves
8. The couple hide from Yahweh
9-11. Yahweh learns of the misdeed
12-13. The man blames the woman, and the woman blames the snake
14-19. Punishments
14-15. The snake’s punishment: crawling and being pitted against humans
16. The woman’s punishment: birthpangs and subservience to her husband
17-19. The man’s punishment: toiling for bread, death
20. The man names his wife Eve
21-24. Expulsion from the garden
21. Yahweh covers the couple with garments made of skins
21-23. Yahweh expels the man from Eden lest he eat from the tree of life and live forever
24. The man is placed to the east of the garden, which is protected by cherubs and swords
Select Verses
1-5: Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild beasts that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say: You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?” The woman replied to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the other trees of the garden. It is only about fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said: ‘You shall not eat of it or touch it, lest you die.’” And the serpent said to the woman, “You are not going to die, but God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like divine beings who know good and bad.”
6-7: When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating and a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they perceived that they were naked; and they sewed together fig leaves and made themselves loincloths.
16-19: And to the woman He said, “I will make most severe Your pangs in childbearing; In pain shall you bear children. Yet your urge shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.” To Adam He said, “Because you did as your wife said and ate of the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ Cursed be the ground because of you; By toil shall you eat of it All the days of your life: Thorns and thistles shall it sprout for you. But your food shall be the grasses of the field; By the sweat of your brow Shall you get bread to eat, Until you return to the ground — For from it you were taken. For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.”
20: The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.
22-23: And the LORD God said, “Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and bad, what if he should stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever!” So the LORD God banished him from the garden of Eden, to till the soil from which he was taken.
