1 When Yahweh God made all the animals, there was one snake that was very good at tricking people. It was better than all the other animals. The snake went to the woman and spoke to her. “God said to you, ‘Don't eat the fruit of any of these trees.’ Did he really say that?”

2 “No,” said the woman. “We can eat fruit from these trees, 3 but we can't eat the fruit from just one tree in the middle. God told us, ‘Don't eat the fruit of that tree and don't touch it.’ If we touch it we will die.”

4 The snake said, “No. That is not true. You won't die. 5 God said that to you because he knows that if you eat that fruit you will be like God, and you will know what is good and what is bad.”

6 Then the woman looked at the tree and saw that it was beautiful. She thought, “It would be good if I could eat this fruit. And it would be good to be wise.” And so she took some and ate it and gave some to her husband. Then he ate some too.

7 After they had eaten it, suddenly their minds were opened and they realized that they were naked. So they sewed some fig leaves together and put them on.

8 When the sun was setting they heard Yahweh God coming and they hid from him among the trees. 9 But Yahweh God called out to the man, “Where are you?”

10 The man answered, “I heard your voice, and I was afraid and I hid because I was naked.”

11 God said to him, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat the fruit that I told you not to eat?”

12 The man said, “This woman you gave me, she gave me the fruit and I ate it.”

13 Then Yahweh God said to the woman, “Why did you do that?”

She answered, “The snake tricked me and I ate it.”

14 Yahweh God said to the snake, “Because of what you have done today, you will have to suffer. I am not cursing the other animals, but I am cursing you today. So from now on you will crawl on your stomach and you will have to eat dust until you die.

15 “You and this woman will hate each other. I will put hatred between you. Her children and yours will always hate each other. Her children will crush your head and you will bite their heels.”

16 Then Yahweh God spoke some very strong words to the woman too. He said, “When you are pregnant, you will be in pain. I will make your suffering worse and you will be in pain when you give birth to a child. Even though you will suffer, you will still want your husband, but your husband will rule over you.”

17 Then Yahweh God said to the man, “You listened to your wife, and you ate the fruit that I told you not to eat. Because of that I am cursing the ground today. It will be spoilt. You will have to work hard all your life, so that your food will grow. 18 The earth will give weeds and thorns. So you will have to go looking for bush foods. 19 You will have to work hard until the sweat pours out of your body. You will work hard so that the earth will provide your food. You won't stop until you die and go back to the ground, and they bury you there. I made you out of the soil and you will become soil again.”

20 And the man was called Adam and he named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all people. The name Eve means “living.” 21 And Yahweh God made clothes from animal skins for Adam and his wife, and he gave them the clothes to wear.

22 Then Yahweh God thought, “Now this man is like us. He knows what is good and what is bad, so he must not eat the fruit from the tree of life and live forever.”

23 So Yahweh God sent the man and the woman out of Eden. He said to Adam, “I took some soil and I made you. So from today you will have to work in the soil.” 24 Then after he had sent them out, Yahweh God put some angels called cherubim in Eden in the east, and also a flaming sword that turned this way and that. He put it there so that no one could go where the tree of life was standing. So he made that place out of bounds.