The Fall

3 Now the serpent^(A) was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?^(B)”

² The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,^{(C) 3} but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”^(D)

⁴ “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.^(E)

⁸ Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”^[a] 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?”^(B)

“I don’t know,^(C)” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

⁴ “The Jewish people all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child,^(A) from the beginning of my life in my own country, and also in Jerusalem.

³ But I am afraid that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning,^(A) your minds may somehow be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ.

⁸ The one who does what is sinful is of the devil,^(A) because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God^(B) appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.^{(C) 9} No one who is born of God^(D) will continue to sin,^(E) because God’s seed^(F) remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. ¹⁰ This is how we know who the children of God^(G) are and who the children of the devil^(H) are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love^(I) their brother and sister.^(J)

More on Love and Hatred

¹¹ For this is the message you heard^(K) from the beginning:^(L) We should love one another.^{(M) 12} Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one^(N) and murdered his brother.^(O) And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.^{(P) 13} Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters,^[a] if the world hates you.^{(Q) 14} We know that we have passed from death to life,^(R) because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death.^{(S) 15} Anyone who hates a brother or sister^(T) is a murderer,^(U) and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.^(V)

⁹ The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent^(A) called the devil,^(B) or Satan,^(C) who leads the whole world astray.^(D) He was hurled to the earth,^(E) and his angels with him.