Listening A1: Genesis Chapter 1 - Genesis 3

Now the snake was more clever than any animal that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, "Is it true that God said you must not eat from any tree in the garden?"

The woman answered the snake, "We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden.

But about the tree in the middle of the garden God said, 'You must not eat it. You must not touch it, or you will die.'"

The snake said to the woman, "No, you will not die.

God knows that the day you eat it your eyes will open, and you will be like God, knowing good and bad."

The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it looked nice, and that it could make a person smart.

She took some of the fruit and ate it, and she gave some to her husband. He also ate it.

Then their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were not wearing clothes, so they made leaves into aprons.

They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool air, and the man and his wife hid from the Lord God among the trees.

The Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?"

The man said, "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was not wearing clothes, so I hid."

God said, "Who told you that you were not wearing clothes? Did you eat from the tree that I told you not to eat?"

The man answered, "The woman you gave to be with me gave me the tree, and I ate."

Then the Lord God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?"

The woman said, "The snake tricked me, and I ate."

The Lord God said to the snake, "Because you did this, you are cursed more than any animal, and you must crawl on your belly and eat dust all your life.

I will make you and the woman hate each other.

Her sons and your sons will fight.

He will hurt your head, and you will hurt his foot."

To the woman he said, "I will make your pain very strong when you have children.

You will have pain when you give birth, and you will want your husband, and he will be the boss."

To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate the tree I told you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you.

You will eat food from it with hard work every day of your life.

Thorns and weeds will grow for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

You will work hard for your food until you go back to the ground, because you were made from the ground.

You are dust, and you will go back to dust."

The man named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all people.

The Lord God made coats of skin for Adam and Eve and dressed them.

The Lord God said, "Now the man is like one of us, knowing good and bad.

If he reaches out and eats from the tree of life, he will live forever."

So the Lord God sent the man out of the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was made.

He drove the man out and placed angels with a burning sword at the east side of the garden to guard the way to the tree of life.