The Temptation and the Fall

3 Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” ^(A)

² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. ³ But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’”^(B)

⁴ “No! You will certainly not die,” the serpent said to the woman.^(C)

⁸ Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”^[a] And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.^(A)

⁹ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”

⁴ “All the Jews know my way of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem.^(A)

³ But I fear that, as the serpent^(A) deceived^(B) Eve^(C) by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a sincere and pure^[a] devotion to Christ.^(D)

⁸ The one who commits^[a] sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God^(A) was revealed^(B) for this purpose: to destroy the devil’s works. ⁹ Everyone who has been born of God^(C) does not sin,^[b] because his seed^(D) remains in him; he is not able to sin,^[c] because he has been born of God. ¹⁰ This is how God’s children and the devil’s children become obvious. Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother or sister.^(E)

Love in Action

¹¹ For this is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another, ¹² unlike Cain,^(F) who was of the evil one^(G) and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s were righteous.

¹³ Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates^(H) you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death.^{(I) 15} Everyone who hates his brother or sister^(J) is a murderer,^(K) and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.