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Genesis 3

Genesis 3 traces human disobedience into fear, toil, and death, while God announces hostility between the serpent and the woman’s offspring.

The serpent questions God’s command and tells the woman that eating the forbidden fruit will make her like God. She eats and gives some to her husband, who also eats. Aware of their nakedness, they make coverings and hide when God approaches. God questions them, then pronounces judgment on the serpent and consequences for the woman and Adam. He clothes the couple before driving them from Eden, where cherubim and a flaming sword guard access to the tree of life.

temptationguilt and confessiondeath and what comes after
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1Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?”
3but not the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it. You shall not touch it, lest you die.’”
4The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t really die,
5for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate. Then she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too.
7Their eyes were opened, and they both knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made coverings for themselves.
8They heard the LORD God’s voice walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
9The LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
10The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; so I hid myself.”
11God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
12The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
14The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed above all livestock, and above every animal of the field. You shall go on your belly and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.
15I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”
16To the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. You will bear children in pain. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
17To Adam he said, “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and have eaten from the tree, about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ the ground is cursed for your sake. You will eat from it with much labor all the days of your life.
18It will yield thorns and thistles to you; and you will eat the herb of the field.
19You will eat bread by the sweat of your face until you return to the ground, for you were taken out of it. For you are dust, and you shall return to dust.”
20The man called his wife Eve because she would be the mother of all the living.
21The LORD God made garments of animal skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.
22The LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever—”
23Therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.
24So he drove out the man; and he placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Genesis 3:15God’s judgment on the serpent looks beyond the garden to conflict between offspring, with wounds to head and heel.
Genesis 3:19The return to dust establishes death as the end of Adam’s labor under the judgment God has pronounced.
Genesis 3:17God ties the cursed ground and painful labor to Adam’s disobedience of the command about the tree.
Where this chapter reaches

Romans connects Adam’s disobedience with sin and death, while 2 Corinthians recalls the serpent’s deception of Eve as a warning about being led away from devotion to Christ. Revelation identifies the ancient serpent with the devil and returns to the tree of life, access to which is barred here.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

How does the serpent’s account of God compare with God’s words and actions throughout the chapter?

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What do you notice about Adam’s and Eve’s responses when God questions them?

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Questions people ask about Genesis 3

Is the serpent in Genesis 3 Satan?

Genesis 3 describes the serpent as a subtle animal God had made; it does not name Satan. The serpent questions God’s command and denies the threatened death. Revelation identifies the ancient serpent with the devil and Satan, providing the wider biblical basis for that identification.

What does Genesis 3:15 mean?

God announces hostility between the serpent and the woman, extending to their offspring. The woman’s offspring will bruise the serpent’s head, while the serpent will bruise his heel. Christian interpretation recognizes here an early promise of Christ’s victory over the devil, though the verse itself does not name Jesus.

Why did God drive Adam and Eve out of Eden?

God states the reason in verse 22: the man must be prevented from eating from the tree of life and living forever. God sends him out to work the ground and guards the way back. Their expulsion follows disobedience and judgment, even after God provides clothing for them.

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What the Bible says about temptation →What the Bible says about guilt →What the Bible says about death →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).