Genesis 2:15-3:13

EasyEnglish Bible

¹⁵ The Lord God took the man and he put him in the Garden of Eden. God wanted the man to work in the garden and to take care of it. ¹⁶ Then the Lord God told the man, ‘You may eat the fruit from any tree in the garden, as much as you like. ¹⁷ But you must not eat any fruit from the tree that gives knowledge of good and evil. If you do eat fruit from that tree, that day you will certainly die.’

¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to live alone. I will make a helper who is right for him.’^[a]

¹⁹ The Lord God took soil from the ground and he made all the animals and birds. He brought them to the man. God wanted to know what names the man would call them. Whatever the man called each living thing, that became its name. ²⁰ So the man gave names to the farm animals, to the birds in the sky and to all the other animals.

But none of these animals was the right helper for the man. ²¹ So the Lord God caused the man to sleep.^[b] While the man was sleeping, God took a rib from the man. Then he closed up the place in his body and he covered it again.^{[c] 22} The Lord God used the man's rib to make a woman. He brought the woman to the man.

²³ Then the man said, ‘Finally, this is someone who is right for me. She has bones that are taken from my bones. Her body comes from my body. I will call her “woman” because God used me, a man, to make her.’

²⁴ Because of this, when a man marries, he leaves his father and his mother. Instead, God joins the man and his wife together. The two people become as one body.^[d]

²⁵ The man and his wife were not wearing any clothes. But they did not feel ashamed.

The man and the woman turn away from God

3 The Lord God made many wild animals. But the snake was the most clever of them all. The snake asked the woman, ‘Did God say, “You must not eat the fruit from any tree in the garden”? Is that really true?’

² The woman replied, ‘We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden. ³ But God said, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not even touch it. If you do that, you will die.” ’

⁴ Then the snake said to the woman, ‘No, you will not die. ⁵ God knows that when you eat the fruit from this tree, you will understand things. You will become like God himself. You will know about good things and evil things.’^[e]

⁶ The woman looked at the fruit on the tree. She saw that it would be good to eat, and it was beautiful to look at. She wanted to eat it because it would make her become wise. So she took some fruit and she ate it. Then she gave some of the fruit to her husband who was with her. He also ate it.

⁷ Then they understood what they had done.^[f] They realized that they were not wearing any clothes. So they took some leaves from fig trees. They tied them together to cover their bodies.

⁸ In the evening there was a nice cool wind. The Lord God walked in the garden. The man and the woman heard the sound of the Lord God. They hid themselves behind some trees, so that God would not see them. ⁹ The Lord God called out to the man. He said to him, ‘Where are you?’

¹⁰ The man replied, ‘I heard you in the garden. I was afraid because I had no clothes. So I hid myself from you.’

¹¹ The Lord God said, ‘Who told you that you had no clothes? Have you eaten fruit from the tree that I said you must not eat?’

¹² The man said, ‘It was the woman that you put here with me. She gave me some fruit from the tree. So I ate it.’

¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, ‘Why have you done a thing like that?’ The woman replied, ‘It was the snake. The snake deceived me with a lie. So I ate the fruit.’