Man Does Not Obey God

3 Now the snake was more able to fool others than any animal of the field which the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say that you should not eat from any tree in the garden?” ² Then the woman said to the snake, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden. ³ But from the tree which is in the center of the garden, God has said, ‘Do not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”

⁴ The snake said to the woman, “No, you for sure will not die! ⁵ For God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and bad.” ⁶ The woman saw that the tree was good for food, and pleasing to the eyes, and could fill the desire of making one wise. So she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate. ⁷ Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were without clothes. So they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves clothing.

⁸ Then they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the evening. The man and his wife hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. ⁹ But the Lord God called to the man. He said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁰ And the man said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden. I was afraid because I was without clothes. So I hid myself.” ¹¹ The Lord God said, “Who told you that you were without clothes? Have you eaten from the tree of which I told you not to eat?” ¹² The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” ¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The snake fooled me, and I ate.”

¹⁴ Then the Lord God said to the snake, “Because you have done this, you will be hated and will suffer more than all cattle, and more than every animal of the field. You will go on your stomach and you will eat dust all the days of your life. ¹⁵ And I will make you and the woman hate each other, and your seed and her seed will hate each other. He will crush your head, and you will crush his heel.”

¹⁶ To the woman He said, “I will make your pain much worse in giving birth. You will give birth to children in pain. Yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

¹⁷ Then He said to Adam, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I told you, “Do not eat from it,” the ground is cursed because of you. By hard work you will eat food from it all the days of your life. ¹⁸ It will grow thorns and thistles for you. You will eat the plants of the field. ¹⁹ You will eat bread by the sweat of your face because of hard work, until you return to the ground, because you were taken from the ground. You are dust, and you will return to dust.”

²⁰ The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. ²¹ And the Lord God made clothes of skins for Adam and his wife, and dressed them.

²² Then the Lord God said, “See, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and bad. Now then, he might put out his hand to take from the tree of life also, and eat and live forever.” ²³ So the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to work the ground from which he was taken. ²⁴ So He drove the man out. And He placed cherubim east of the garden of Eden with a sword of fire that turned every way. They kept watch over the path to the tree of life.

Cain Kills Abel

4 The man lay with his wife Eve and she was going to have a child and she gave birth to Cain. She said, “I have given birth to a man with the help of the Lord.” ² Next she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was one who worked the ground.

³ The day came when Cain brought a gift of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. ⁴ But Abel brought a gift of the first-born of his flocks and of the fat parts. The Lord showed favor to Abel and his gift. ⁵ But He had no respect for Cain and his gift. So Cain became very angry and his face became sad. ⁶ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why are you looking down? ⁷ Will not your face be happy if you do well? If you do not do well, sin is waiting to destroy you. Its desire is to rule over you, but you must rule over it.”

⁸ Cain told this to his brother Abel. And when they were in the field, Cain stood up against his brother Abel and killed him.

⁹ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” ¹⁰ The Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to Me from the ground. ¹¹ Now you are cursed because of the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² When you work the ground, it will no longer give its strength to you. You will always travel from place to place on the earth.”

¹³ Then Cain said to the Lord, “I am being punished more than I can take! ¹⁴ See, this day You have made me go away from the land. And I will be hidden from Your face. I will run away and move from place to place. And whoever finds me will kill me.”

¹⁵ So the Lord said to him, “Whoever kills Cain will be punished by Me seven times worse.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain so that any one who found him would not kill him.

¹⁶ Then Cain went away from the face of the Lord, and stayed in the land of Nod, east of Eden. ¹⁷ Cain lay with his wife and she was going to have a child and she gave birth to Enoch. Cain built a city and gave it the name of Enoch, the name of his son. ¹⁸ Now Irad was born to Enoch. And Irad became the father of Mehujael. Mehujael became the father of Methushael. And Methushael became the father of Lamech. ¹⁹ Lamech took two wives for himself. The name of one was Adah. And the name of the other was Zillah. ²⁰ Adah gave birth to Jabal. He was the father of those who live in tents and have cattle. ²¹ His brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all those who play the harp and the horn. ²² Zillah gave birth to Tubal-cain who made things from brass and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

²³ And Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, listen to my voice. Hear what I say, you wives of Lamech. For I have killed a man for hurting me, and a boy for hitting me. ²⁴ If those who hurt Cain are punished seven times worse, then those who hurt Lamech will be punished seventy-seven times worse.”

²⁵ And Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and gave him the name Seth. For she said, “God has let me have another son in the place of Abel, for Cain killed him.” ²⁶ A son was born to Seth also, and he gave him the name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord.