This should be the most extensive examination of Gen. 3 available, where you will be able to see every word of the original text.

Outline of Chapter 3:

Introduction

         vv.     1–5           The Fall: Satan Deceives the Woman

         v.       6            The Fall: the Man and the Woman Succumb

         vv.     7–8           The Fall: Initial Results of the Man and Woman’s Sin

         vv.     9–13         The Fall: God Gathers the Facts

         vv.    14–15         God Judges the Serpent

         v.       16           God Judges the Woman

         vv.    17–19         God Judges the Man

         vv.    20–21         The First Atonement

         vv.    22–24         God Expels Man from the Garden of Eden

Addendum

Charts, Graphics and Short Doctrines:

         Introduction         Science and Genesis 1–2

         Introduction         Satan

         Introduction         The Fall of Satan

         v.       4              The Basis of Satan’s Appeals

         v.       6              Eve and the Apple (a photograph)

         v.       6              The Shifting Authority

         v.       7              The Doctrine of Human Good

         v.       7              The Doctrine of Morality

         v.      10              The Doctrine of Truth and Lies

         v.      11              What Does the Bible Claim for Itself?

         v.      11              The Historicity of Adam, the Woman and the Fall

         v.      14              Satan’s Appearance

         v.      15              The Seed of the Woman as Found in the Bible

         v.      15              Genesis 3:14–15: God’s Judgement of the Serpent

         v.      16              Scar Tissue of the Soul

         v.      16              Genesis 3:14–16: God’s Judgment of the Serpent and then the Woman

         v.      19              Genesis 3:14–19: God’s Judgments of the Serpent, the Woman and the Man

         v.      21              The Doctrine of Atonement

         v.      22              How We Stand Corrupted and Condemned before God

         v.      24              The Cherubim of God

         Summary            Chapter Summary

         Summary            The Fall of Man (Behind the Scenes)

         Addendum          Josephus’ History of this Time

         Addendum          Edersheim Summarizes Genesis 3

         Addendum          A Complete Translation of Genesis 3

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An Introduction to Genesis 3

I ntroduction: Chapter 3 brings the fall of man. As was mentioned in the previous chapter, we do not know how long this state of innocence lasted. It is possible that man's fall occurred within the week. I like to think of it as a long time; a decade or a century, but that is personal romanticism. Because we cannot put a time on the birth of Cain relative to man's total existence, we cannot get a fix on this time period. The best we can do is speculate: Adam is 130 years old when he sired Seth (Gen. 5:5), who is not necessarily his third child and not necessarily even his third male child (although that is most likely). If Adam had sired Cain and Abel and daughters within the previous decade or two and if his age was calculated upon his beginning in the garden, then man may have spent a century in the Garden of Eden in a state of innocence. Adam and the woman had settled down into some sort of a routine and that routine sometimes included time away from each other, even in perfect environment without two old sin natures. They had both been carefully instructed by Jesus Christ in the garden not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Perfect environment for them included being taught knowledge (or, Bible doctrine if you will) by Jesus Christ in the garden, time together and time alone, sex, eating, enjoying the view and no children.

The angels and Satan had the earth under observation. Satan is intelligent beyond what we can imagine, although he is not omniscient. We can be certain that he carefully planned his attack. We do not know how many other attacks which he made upon the man and the woman. He had one objective, however, and that was to get man and the woman to sin against God. He and his demon troops had all been sentenced to spend eternity in the Lake of Fire and he appealed this decision. He was certainly filled with rage and jealousy against man and this idyllic existence. First of all, the man enjoyed sex with his right woman, something which Satan never had the opportunity to do. Then, although man was weak and stupid by comparison, he enjoyed a life far better than Satan would ever enjoy.

What was Satan's objective here? Very likely, he wanted to show how unfair God would be to Adam and the woman when they sinned just as God had been so unfair to Satan for his sin. Satan judged God's objectives, motives and decisions based upon his own fallen nature and made false conclusions based upon his false assumptions. At this time, Satan had no idea how long human history would last; how long until he would be cast into the Lake of Fire; nor did he know that God would come to earth as a man and pay for Adam's sin and every subsequent sin of mankind. Satan, in his arrogance, just wanted to stir up trouble. It would seem likely that Satan even sat back and observed for a time being, hoping that Adam would, of his own free will, choose against God and take from the forbidden tree.

Satan enters into the body of the serpent (possibly an extinct animal; more than likely it is a snake since the same word continues to occur in the Old Testament). Or, more likely, Satan takes on the form of a serpent. Possibly God does not allow Satan to manifest himself bodily to the woman at this point because he is a creature of tremendous beauty and he has a marvelous personality and he would have charmed the woman into whatever course of action he chose due to his incredible presence.

There is a possible precedent set here: Satan begins by using demon possession and speaking in tongues. The serpent takes on the characteristics of Satan. Or, the option which I believe is the more likely, Satan takes on another form—he assumes the form of a serpent (in later chapters of the Bible, both the Revealed Member of the Trinity and angels will appear to be men (Gen. 18:1–2 19:1).

A lot of people like to allegorize the first few chapters of Genesis. Gen. 3 is about the serpent coming to the woman, speaking to her, and getting her to eat from the Tree of Knowing Good and Evil. Then she has her husband eat from this tree. However, there is no actual reason why this narrative needs to be allegorical. I am not sure I have heard a plausible parallel narrative that this supposedly represents.

So far, as has already been discussed, if the first few chapters of Genesis were allegorical, then how could the Bible be so right on in its allegories? That is, how could the author know about the big bang theory, about the ice age, about the atmosphere, about man being made of the same chemicals as the earth, or about cloning. How can a series of allegories be so much in synch with science. Sure, if the universe was a teardrop that fell off the back of a turtle, and it exploded in a sea of tears into whatever, I might want to say, “That’s either just made up crap or that is allegorical.” However, one thing after another lines up with what we know to be true today.

——————————

The Fall: Satan Deceives the Woman

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:                       Note: I compare the Hebrew text to English translations of the Latin, Syriac and Greek texts, using the Douay-Rheims translation; George Lamsa’s translation, and Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton’s translation as revised and edited by Paul W. Esposito, respectively. I often update these texts with non-substantive changes (e.g., you for thou, etc.). I often use the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible instead of Brenton’s translation, because it updates the English text.

The Septuagint was the earliest known translation of a book (circa 200 b.c.). Since this translation was made before the textual criticism had been developed into a science and because different books appear to be translated by different men, the Greek translation can sometimes be very uneven.

When there are serious disparities between my translation and Brenton’s (or the text of the Complete Apostles’ Bible), I look at the Greek text of the Septuagint (the LXX) to see if a substantive difference actually exists (and I reflect these changes in the English rendering of the Greek text). I use the Greek LXX with Strong’s numbers and morphology available for e-sword. The only problem with this resource (which is a problem for similar resources) is, there is no way to further explore Greek verbs which are not found in the New Testament. Although I usually quote the Complete Apostles’ Bible here, I have begun to make changes in the translation when their translation conflicts with the Greek and note what those changes are.

The Masoretic text is the Hebrew text with all of the vowels (vowel points) inserted (the original Hebrew text lacked vowels). We take the Masoretic text to be the text closest to the original. However, differences between the Masoretic text and the Greek, Latin and Syriac are worth noting and, once in a great while, represent a more accurate text possessed by those other ancient translators.

In general, the Latin text is an outstanding translation from the Hebrew text into Latin and very trustworthy (I say this as a non-Catholic). Unfortunately, I do not read Latin—apart from some very obvious words—so I am dependent upon the English translation of the Latin (principally, the Douay-Rheims translation).

Underlined words indicate differences in the text.

Bracketed portions of the Dead Sea Scrolls are words, letters and phrases lost in the scroll due to various types of damage. Underlined words or phrases are those in the Dead Sea Scrolls but not in the Masoretic text.

The Targum of Onkelos is actually the Pentateuchal Targumim, which are The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel. On the Pentateuch With The Fragments of the Jerusalem Targum From the Chaldee by J. W. Etheridge, M.A. Take from http://targum.info/targumic-texts/pentateuchal-targumim/ and first published in 1862.

Dead Sea Scrolls                   [Now the serpent was more] crafty [than any beast of the field which the Lord God has made. And he sai]d to the woman, [“Has God] really [Interrogative particle 4QGen^k. Not in MT SP.] [said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of] the garden?’ ” You should note that there are barely a handful of words which are readable in this verse (which is true throughout much of Genesis, where many complete verses cannot be discerned). In this particular verse, the superscript k may be a typo, as a majority of these are a, b and c, which would refer to the first, second or third manuscript (I assume of a particular book) to be taken from cave 4 (in this case). SP stands for the Samaritan Pentateuch.

Targum of Onkelos                And the serpent was wiser unto evil than all the beasts of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Is it truth that the Lord God hath said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Latin Vulgate                          Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And the serpent was crafty [and devious] from every animal of the field which had made Y^ehowah Elohim. And so he says unto the woman, “Indeed that has said, Elohim, ‘You [all] will not eat from every tree of the garden’?”

Peshitta (Syriac)                    NOW the serpent was more subtle than all the wild beasts that the LORD God had made. And the serpent said to the woman, Truly has God said that you shall not eat of any tree of the garden?

Septuagint (Greek)                Now the serpent was the most crafty of all the brutes on the earth, which the Lord God made. And the serpent said to the woman, Has God truly said, Eat not of every tree of the garden? This is actually Gen. 3:2 in the Greek Bible.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           Knowledge, not eternal life

The snake was the most intelligent [Heb sounds like naked.] of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say that you shouldn't eat from any tree in the garden?"

Contemporary English V.       The snake was sneakier than any of the other wild animals that the LORD God had made. One day it came to the woman and asked, "Did God tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?"

Easy English                          Now the snake was the most clever among all the wild animals that the *Lord God had made. The snake said this to the woman: `Did God say that you can eat the fruit from all the trees in the garden?'

Easy-to-Read Version            The snake was the most clever of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. {The snake wanted to trick the woman.} The snake spoke to the woman and said, “Woman, did God really tell you that you must not eat from any tree in the garden?”

The Message                         The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal GOD had made. He spoke to the Woman: "Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?"

New Berkeley Version           The serpent, wiliest of all the field animals the Lord God has made, said to the woman, “So, God has told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?”

New Century Version             The Beginning of Sin

Now the snake was the most clever of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day the snake said to the woman, "Did God really say that you must not eat fruit from any tree in the garden?"

New Life Bible                        Man Does Not Obey God

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?"

New Living Translation           The Man and Woman Sin

The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, "Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?"

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          Now, both of them (the man and the woman) were naked and unashamed.

The snake was the wiliest of the animals that Jehovah had made on the earth. And the snake asked the woman, 'Why did God tell you that you shouldn't eat from all the trees of Paradise?' These are the first two verses in the AEB (and in the Septuagint).

Ancient Roots Translinear      The serpent was the shrewdest of all the life of the field which Yahweh God made. He said to the woman, "Did God even say, 'Never eat of any tree of the garden?"

Beck’s American Translation Adam and Eve Sin

The snake was the smartest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. He asked the woman, “Did God really say, ‘Don’t eat from any tree in the garden’?”.

God’s Word™                         The snake was more clever than all the wild animals the LORD God had made. He asked the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must never eat the fruit of any tree in the garden'?"

New American Bible              Expulsion from Eden.

Now the snake was the most cunning [Cunning: there is a play on the words for "naked" (2:25) and "cunning/wise" (Heb. `arum). The couple seek to be "wise" but end up knowing that they are "naked."] of all the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He asked the woman, "Did God really say, `You shall not eat from any of the trees in the garden'?"

Revised English Bible            The serpent, which was the most cunning of all the creatures the Lord God had made, asked the woman, ‘Is it true that God has forbidden you to eat from any tree in the garden?’

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             Now the snake was wiser than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God truly said that you may not take of the fruit of any tree in the garden?

omplete Jewish Bible             Now the serpent was more crafty than any wild animal which ADONAI, God, had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You are not to eat from any tree in the garden'?"

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 The Temptation of Eve

Now the Serpent was more impudent than any of the wild animals of the field which the Ever-living God had made. So, he asked the woman, “Is it true that God had said, you may not eat of every tree of the Garden?”

HCSB                                     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'?"

JPS (Tanakh—1985)               The two of them wre naked, the man and his wife, yet they felt no shame. Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild beasts that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say: You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?” The JPS places Gen. 2:25 as the first verse of Gen. 3.

New Advent Bible                  Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: Why has God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?.

NET Bible®                             The Temptation and the Fall

Now [The chapter begins with a disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + predicate) that introduces a new character and a new scene in the story.] the serpent [Many theologians identify or associate the serpent with Satan. In this view Satan comes in the disguise of a serpent or speaks through a serpent. This explains the serpent's capacity to speak. While later passages in the Bible may indicate there was a satanic presence behind the serpent (see, for example, Rev. 12:9), the immediate context pictures the serpent as simply one of the animals of the field created by God (see Gen. 3:1; Gen. 3:14). An ancient Jewish interpretation explains the reference to the serpent in a literal manner, attributing the capacity to speak to all the animals in the orchard. This text (Jub. 3:28) states, "On that day [the day the man and woman were expelled from the orchard] the mouth of all the beasts and cattle and birds and whatever walked or moved was stopped from speaking because all of them used to speak to one another with one speech and one language [presumed to be Hebrew, see Gen. 12:26]." Josephus, Ant. 1.1.4 (1.41) attributes the serpent's actions to jealousy. He writes that "the serpent, living in the company of Adam and his wife, grew jealous of the blessings which he supposed were destined for them if they obeyed God's behests, and, believing that disobedience would bring trouble on them, he maliciously persuaded the woman to taste of the tree of wisdom."] was more shrewd [The Hebrew word עָרוּם ('arum) basically means "clever." This idea then polarizes into the nuances "cunning" (in a negative sense, see Job. 5:12; Job. 15:5), and "prudent" in a positive sense (Prov. 12:16; Prov. 12:23; Prov. 13:16; Prov. 14:8; Prov. 14:15; Prov. 14:18; Prov. 22:3; Prov. 27:12). This same polarization of meaning can be detected in related words derived from the same root (see Ex. 21:14; Joshua 9:4; 1Sam. 23:22; Job. 5:13; Psalm 83:3). The negative nuance obviously applies in Genesis 3, where the snake attempts to talk the woman into disobeying God by using half–truths and lies.] [There is a wordplay in Hebrew between the words "naked" (עֲרוּמִּים, 'arummim) in Gen. 2:25 and "shrewd" (עָרוּם, 'arum) in Gen. 3:1. The point seems to be that the integrity of the man and the woman is the focus of the serpent's craftiness. At the beginning they are naked and he is shrewd; afterward, they will be covered and he will be cursed.] than any of the wild animals [Heb "animals of the field."] that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Is it really true that [Heb "Indeed that God said." The beginning of the quotation is elliptical and therefore difficult to translate. One must supply a phrase like "is it true": "Indeed, [is it true] that God said."] God [God. The serpent does not use the expression "Yahweh God" [LORD God] because there is no covenant relationship involved between God and the serpent. He only speaks of "God." In the process the serpent draws the woman into his manner of speech so that she too only speaks of "God."] said, 'You must not eat from any tree of the orchard [Heb "you must not eat from all the tree[s] of the orchard." After the negated prohibitive verb, מִכֹּל (mikkol, "from all") has the meaning "from any." Note the construction in Lev. 18:26, where the statement "you must not do from all these abominable things" means "you must not do any of these abominable things." See Lev. 22:25 and Deut. 28:14 as well.]'?" When it comes to making an actual material change to the text, the NET Bible® is pretty good about indicating this. Since most of these corrections will be clear in the more literal translations below and within the Hebrew exegesis itself, I will not continue to list every NET Bible® footnote.

NIV – UK                                The fall

Now the snake 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"?'

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                NOW THE serpent was more subtle and crafty than any living creature of the field which the Lord God had made. And he [Satan] said to the woman, Can it really be that God has said, You shall not eat from every tree of the garden?

Concordant Literal Version    And the serpent comes to be the craftiest of all field life which was made by Yahweh Elohim. And saying is the serpent to the woman, "Indeed! Then the Elohim says, 'Not eat shall you from any tree of the garden'?

Updated Emphasized Bible    Now, the serpent, was more crafty than any living thing of the field which Yahweh God had made, so he said unto the woman, Can it really be that God has said, you will not eat of every tree of the garden?

English Standard Version      Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?"

English Standard V. – UK       The Fall

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, `You [In Hebrew you is plural in verses 1-5] shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?"

exeGeses companion Bible   Now the serpent

being more subtil than any live being of the field

Yah Veh Elohim worked,

he says to the woman, Has Elohim truly said,

Eat not of every tree of the garden?

LTHB                                     And the serpent was cunning above every animal of the field which Jehovah God had made. And he said to the woman, Is it true that God has said, You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?

Syndein/Thieme                     Now the serpent was more 'cunningly evil'/crafty than any lower creatures of the field which Jehovah/God Elohim/Godhead had manufactured {'asah - make something from something}. So, he {Satan through the serpent} said to the woman, "'Have you heard??'/'Is it really true??' . . . that Elohiym/Godhead has said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'? {implying unfairness of God}" {Note: One principal from this verse is 'the greatest terror against bible doctrine is CONVERSATION'. Do not let anyone mislead you! Also note that Satan does not call God 'Jehovah'! He recognizes the Supreme Being, but denies the relationship that comes with recognizing the Savior - Jesus Christ.}.

Young’s Updated LT             And the serpent has been subtle above every beast of the field which Jehovah God has made, and he says unto the woman, “Is it true that God has said, you do not eat of every tree of the garden?”

The gist of this verse:          Satan is the most intelligent and cunning creature to come from the hand of God. He asks the woman if it is true that God has told them that they could not eat from every tree in the garden.

Translation: Now the serpent was more insightful [and devious] than any animal of the field... This is an unusual beginning to a chapter. We have the “These are the generations of...” approach, as in Gen. 2:4 or 5:1; or the “And so it comes to pass that...” approach, as in Gen. 6:1. This is far less ceremonial than either of those approaches, and is found here and in Gen. 4:1 (among other places).

This is our first introduction to Satan, who appears in the form of a serpent to the woman. Whereas, most of us get the heebie jeebies around snakes, that was not the case in the garden. They would have seemed as sweet and adorable as any puppy dog that you have ever received in an email with some clever saying below it. There was absolutely nothing threatening to anyone when it came to the serpent.

On several occasions in the Bible (here, Isa. 14 and Ezek. 26), Satan is spoken of indirectly. That is, attributes are assigned to someone (something) else, which attributes belong to Satan. It is Satan who is crafty, insidious, devious, shrewd; not the serpent.

Throughout the Bible, God has allowed angels to manifest themselves as men, with similar human bodies to ours, bodies capable of having sex (Gen. 6) and capable of eating (Gen. 21). So, it is not necessary that Satan indwelt a serpent, but that he took upon the form of a serpent, which God had allowed him to do. The reason I would say this is, a serpent does not have the apparatus to speak; however, the form of a serpent, which Satan assumes, would have the proper ability to speak.

From this, Gen. 6 and the book of Job (specifically, Job 1–2), God has clearly given Satan a lot of leeway as to what he can do on earth among men. It is clear that God puts Satan on a fairly short leash with respect to that which he does. So, God, for a few centuries, might allow Satan and the fallen angels to take on the bodies of men, as He does in Gen. 6. However, that ability is taken off the table after Gen. 6, and is allowed from time to time to individual elect angels.

Now, you may wonder, why does God allow this? Why not simply allow the man and the woman to just live peacefully in the garden? You think this way because you are anthropocentric; you think about how this affects mankind and how it affects you personally. However, there is more to life than mankind.

In fact, this is the key to the book of Job: Job and his three friends, while Job is in great pain and suffering, sit around and discuss theology; and what seems to be their biggest problem in the application of true doctrine to Job’s situation is, they have ignored the Angelic Conflict. God created angels first, and then man. We are not created as something completely and totally separate from angelic creation. That is, we were created because a third of the angels fell; we were created because Satan fell, in his great arrogance. Apart from the angels, our lives make little sense.

Let me see if I can draw an analogy here. We’ve all seen movies, and movies are conceived of, scripted and then shot because the producers hope that there will be an audience for that movie. People do not spend money and time producing a movie that there will never be an audience for.

We are, in a sense, a movie that angels are watching. We are created by God with a purpose that angels will observe. If there was no audience of angels, then God would not have created us; our lives, as they stand now, would be meaningless. Now, to us, sure, our lives have great meaning, and many people can find a great deal in their lives apart from God and apart from the Angelic Conflict. However, we were not created just for ourselves (Rom. 4:7); and we were not created simply to fulfill our personal desires (James 4:3). This, to a limited degree, was understood by Cicero, who wrote, non nobis solum nati sumus ortusque nostri partem patria vindicat, partem amici ("We are not born, we do not live for ourselves alone; our country, our friends, have a share in us").

You might concede, at least temporarily, okay, I will give you that; now, so what? Satan has been judged (John 16:11). Satan will be thrown into the Lake of Fire (Rev. 20:10). Satan is appealing this sentence, quite obviously, because he is not yet in the Lake of Fire. So, what do we understand from this? Satan cannot leave well enough alone. He cannot leave the man and the woman alone in the garden, in innocence, without sin. He must jump into the middle of this.

When Jesus came into this world, Satan could not leave that alone. Although it is not plainly stated in Scripture, it is likely that Satan inspired Herod’s attempts to destroy the child-Messiah. Satan certainly attempted to tempt Jesus Christ in His humanity, to get Him to go against the plan of God.

Sin—rebellion against God—cannot coexist with innocence or with sinlessness. Sin will always look to corrupt innocence or sinlessness.

Let me give you a simple example: drugs. A person who starts using drugs will eventually have to pull others into this world of drug usage. He may or may not lie to get those he knows to take drugs, but needs to involve others. Those who sell drugs must ruin the lives of thousands of other people, in order for them to make a living selling drugs. A drug dealer cannot live off of 10 addicts.

Let me give you another example: homosexuality. In the past 40 years of my life, I have seen homosexual behavior go from being clearly understood to be a sin (say, in the 1950's and 1960's) to being seen as morally neutral, or very nearly morally neutral by a large number of people today. Although, I don’t believe that to be at 50%, I believe it is getting closer and closer to 50% in the United States. Given this, homosexuals can have their own bars, they can have their own “singles” websites; and they can hookup all that they want to. Now, one would think that, the ability to commit the sin of homosexual acts with one another would be enough. Furthermore, it is not that there is a lot of social constraint here. Most male homosexuals typically have sex with 500, 1000, 2000 and more partners in their lifetimes. So, even though there are a lot of churches out there, the church does not seem to really restrict adult males from engaging in homosexual acts.

And if two homosexuals want to marry, in almost any town of over 100,000 people, there can be found a church that will hold a marriage ceremony for any two homosexuals. Legally, in pretty much every state, there is a legal status which they can attain; or legal papers they can file, so that their legal rights with their significant other is similar to that of any normal, married couple. This is not enough. Homosexuals do not like being called sinners. There is a large enough of a minority in the homosexual community which would disallow the teaching of the Bible about homosexuality. There is also a large enough minority within the homosexual community which cannot leave our schools alone. Even before children are ready to think about sexuality, homosexuals want to be there infiltrating the schools. These groups would love to see a full-time paid position at every school of a special LGBT counselor to talk to kids about their thoughts and confusion. And they will want to counsel all kids that they can. Right now, their “in” to the schools is bullying. Most people believe that bullying is bad, so let’s have a bullying program; and, oh, by the way, this will include kids who are bullied (or teased) about homosexuality (again, offered at ages before children even known what homosexuality is; let alone sexuality). When it comes to sin, sinners cannot let well-enough alone. They must push their sin; parade their sin. And, in nearly every gay pride parade, there will be people acting out in ways that you would not want your own children to see.

It is impossible for homosexuals (and others who commit addictive sins) to simply leave things as they are. They must be moving forward. This means, no one can say negative things about homosexual behavior; no one can teach such things; and that homosexuals will have unfettered access to our public schools. They get there by means of the legalization of homosexual marriage. Now, in case you do not understand this, males are males are males, whether their sexual desires are toward females, other males or both. For a long period of time in a man’s life, they will have sexual lusts which they want to act on. When you put two male souls together, who are both attracted to males, you get typical male functions. Sex, with increasingly less emotional attachment; and a greater desire for more and more partners.

Now, let’s apply this to the Angelic Conflict. The obvious conclusion is, God cannot simply give Satan some planet off in another galaxy and let him and the other angels just hang out there. They must infect everyone with their rebellion (which will become clear in Gen. 6). If someone is sinless or in innocence, they must corrupt that person. This is the very nature of rebellion against God. Rebellion cannot be exercised alone.

All animals have some sort of intelligence, but the serpent was crafty because this is a manifestation of Satan (or in the alternative, a serpent indwelt by Satan). There is possibly even a bit of mockery and tongue-in-cheek here. The serpent is even smarter and craftier than the other members of the animal kingdom. This is a status achieved by Satan: craftier than the other animals. The word for crafty is ʿârûwm (עָרוּם) [pronounced ģaw-ROOM], and it means subtle, crafty, shrewd, cunning, sly and sensible. Whether it is used in a good sense or a bad sense is determined by context. It is found in Proverbs in a good sense. Satan's attack was certainly subtle. He attacks the woman. There are no threats, no attempt to cause her fear (which might not have been possible). He just talks to the woman; explores the thoughts of her soul. He wants to know how she feels. "This is your garden, honey, and God has not allowed you to eat from every tree? Now, just how do you feel about that?" This recorded passage is not every conversation that the woman had with Satan nor is it the entirety of this particular conversation. Since there is no indication that any animal ever spoke (nor do they have the vocal cords which have the ability to speak as we do), Satan then must have been allowed by God to either alter the vocal cords or to throw his voice, as it were. The first thing out of his mouth was certainly not about the tree. He had to talk to the woman so that she would not be frightened or confused because an animal was speaking to her and then he needed to get her confidence. This possibly involved several conversations prior to this time; or this could be midway through his first conversation with her. Satan is exceptionally brilliant and his attack on perfect environment had to be clever. He does not go to the man. He spots a vulnerability in the woman and exploits that vulnerability. He also has noticed that Adam is vulnerable through the woman. However, at this point, Satan may not care about Adam's decision. Whether Adam follows her in sin or whether he remains in a state of perfection; either outcome would very likely fit into Satan's incompletely formed plan. He just wants at least one of these creatures who occupy his one-time realm, to fall and sin against God. Satan speaking is in the Qal imperfect, indicating an ongoing conversation; however, God said is in the Qal perfect, implying a finality and a mandate which may not be altogether fair.

Now the serpent was more insightful [and devious] than any animal of the field... Although one might want to interpret this as meaning that the animal, the serpent, was more intelligent than any other creature of the field (which is perhaps true), the true meaning of this is, Satan is more intelligent and devious than any creature, bar none.

Gen. 3:1a reads: Now the serpent was more insightful [and devious] than any animal of the field...

22.   This is Satan’s first attack against mankind. He will tempt Adam and the woman to sin.

Translation: ...that Y^ehowah Elohim had made. With the previous phrase, we have Now the serpent was more insightful [and devious] than any animal of the field that Y^ehowah Elohim had made... God has created many creatures, both on earth and angelic. Here, we are told that Satan is the most intelligent creature to come from the hand of God. This also tells us that, Satan was created by God.

Translation: He said unto the woman,... The man and the woman are in innocence. This is difficult for us to relate to, but it is like being both 4 and 40 at the same time. We have the innocence of age 4, when we ask our parents every question in the book until they finally say, “Shut up with all your questions, kid” or “Mommy’s got to concentrate on her driving now” or “Because I said so.” The world to us, at that time, seems to be a magical place. At age 4, if a flying saucer came down in our backyard, we’d very likely run up the plank to see what was going on. It may seem unusual to us, but not that unusual. At that age, it would not occur to us to say, “Holy crap, mom, come look at this! I’ve never seen anything like it!”

So, that the serpent speaks to the woman does not throw her off her game. This does not strike her as unusual. The serpent perhaps never spoke to her before (and perhaps he did), but this was not something that seemed wildly crazy. She did not feel like she had to run to Adam and tell him about this; there was no fear.

We have no idea if this occurs for the first time here, or whether Satan began coming to the woman and engaging her in conversation, scurrying off, saying, “Let’s keep this conversation a secret, just between us, okay?” If there is a past, we don’t know about it.

In any case, the woman is innocent and sinless. She is unable to make a morally wrong decision, apart from eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Therefore, whatever led up to her decision to eat from this tree, none of it can be considered sinful.

Now, could she be committing sins, which we not sins to her in innocence? That is, could she be arrogant and make some self-centered arrogant choices? This is a fairly difficult and sophisticated question, and one which may not really lead us anywhere; but my guess is, apart from the tree, she was like Jesus, in that, she was able not to sin and she was not able to sin (in Latin, this is posse non peccare and non posse peccare). So, in my estimation, she did not sin and she was not able to sin. She was unable to do anything that could be interpreted as a sin. Therefore, whatever motivation she has leading up to eating from the fruit of the forbidden tree, none of that could properly be called sinful.

Translation:...“Indeed [is it really true] that Elohim has said,... Satan, on the other hand, has fallen, and will use any sort of evil to cause pain and suffering to the human race. All this lame stuff in the garden that Adam and the woman are doing, infuriate him. They are not strong, they are not on his intellect level, they have very limited powers with regards to the physical universe. Watching their lives might be like an in-your-face gay man would react to being forced to watch every episode of Ozzie and Harriet, Donna Reed and Father Knows Best. These two wimpy and stupid creatures infuriated Satan, and what God saw in them was beyond him.

Satan was the most beautiful and intelligent creature to come from the hand of God; so what God sees in these two rubes is beyond his comprehension. But God has allowed Satan to mess with them, and so he will.

You will note the first attack in the garden is upon the Word of God. “Did God really say this?” “Is this what God said?” “Can this really be true that God said this?” He wants to confuse the woman, and distort the words of God. Therefore, Satan will distort, every so slightly, what God said to her (or what God said to the man; we do not know if God told the woman this or if she had knowledge of it apart from the man).

Translation:...‘You [all] will not eat from every tree of the garden’?” Satan’s questions are directed to the woman while she is in the garden alone, but these questions are about her and Adam. The serpent is not interested in only the woman; he is interested in the rules as they apply to Adam.

Satan improperly quotes God’s Word back to the woman. What God said was this: And Y^ehowah Elohim commanded the man, saying, “You may freely eat [lit., eating, you may eat] from every tree of the garden, but you will not eat from the Tree of Knowledge [of] good and evil, for in the day that you eat from it, dying, you will die.” So, the complete version here is, God told the man that he could eat from every tree of the garden, but there is this one exception.

Satan knew exactly what God had told the man and the woman. One way in which he makes a negative impact on the world is, he distorts God’s clear commands. This is often Satan’s approach, to distort or to misapply the Word of God. When tempting the humanity of Jesus Christ, Satan improperly applied several verses in order to try to get the Lord to do his bidding.

Satan here, subtly implies that God has somehow shortchanged Adam and the woman. God has not really given them all that he should have given them. I mean, “Really, you cannot eat from EVERY tree in this garden?”

Gen 3:1 The snake was more clever than all the wild animals the LORD God had made. He asked the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must never eat the fruit of any tree in the garden'?"

The name of the serpent is quite fascinating: it is nâchâsh (נָחָש) [pronounced naw-KHAWSH], which means serpent. Strong’s #5175 BDB #638. You can hear the hissing of the snake when you pronounce this word. This is very closely related to the verb nâchash (נָחַש) [pronounced naw-KHAHSH], which means to practice divination, to divine; to communicate with demons; to whisper. Strong's #5172 BDB #638. I would guess that the noun came first, and the verb was based upon this noun.

The adjective used to describe the serpent here is ʿârûwm (עָרוּם) [pronounced ģaw-ROOM], which means; sensible, prudent, forethoughtful, farsighted, insightful, sagacious, prepared. Strong’s #6175 (& 6191) BDB #791. The serpent is called more clever than all of the life forms because Satan indwelt this snake. This is why the serpent was more shrewd and devious than the other animals. God did not create snakes with a greater intellectual capacity than other animals; but this snake, under Satan’s control, was extremely intelligent.

Satan’s question is not just clever, but he already knows the answer he will get, which we will examine next time.

Apparently, Satan, who indwelt the serpent, waited until the woman was alone, and then he spoke to her. As we studied last time, Satan, who was created as the greatest of all angels, had fallen from grace, becoming arrogant because of his own beauty and intelligence.

Gen 3:1 The snake was more clever [= crafty, insidious, devious, shrewd] than all the wild animals the LORD God had made. He asked the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must never eat the fruit of any tree in the garden'?"

None of the animals had ever talked to Adam or the woman before. However, the woman does not appear to be startled or taken aback by this. Now, I don’t know if you can recall back to your youth, but there was a time when you were young when almost anything seemed possible. For the first couple years of your life, anything that you wanted was just given to you. You learned how to do that. Your wants were rather limited, but whatever it was, your parents seemed to figure out what it was and took care of you. A few years past this, and life’s possibilities seemed infinite. We do not know how long Adam and the woman had lived on this earth; and they certainly did not know what was possible and what was not. So, even though this serpent began to speak to the woman, it did not shock or surprise her. Furthermore, the woman was incapable of fear. There is nothing which would happen which would cause the woman to fear.

We don’t know where Adam is at this point in time, but the Garden of Eden was huge, and he was probably several miles away at this time engaged in some project. Adam looked forward to working in this garden each day. Adam and the woman are both quite intelligent, so it is even likely that they even built tools to work with by this time.

Notice how Satan speaks to the woman; he poses a question to which he already knows the answer. “God didn’t really tell you that you could not eat from any tree in the garden?” This is what a lawyer does. A lawyer will ask a series of questions leading to a set of answers which he wants to hear. Here, Satan wants to lead the woman and her thinking in a particular direction. This is how all false systems of thinking begin—religions, philosophies, world-views—with a distortion of the Word of God.

When speaking of God, Satan uses the word Elohim, but he does not use the personal name Jehovah (Y^ehowah). Satan no longer has the relationship with God which we as believers have. When we believed in Jesus Christ, we were saved and saved forever. We cannot lose our salvation. We may get out of fellowship from time to time, but we do not lose our personal relationship with Him. Satan has no such personal relationship with God; Satan has been condemned by God. The amount of evil which Satan is willing to do will be laid out throughout all human history.

Islamic terrorists give us a contemporary clue as to how much evil Satan is willing to commit. Since newspapers and television news seem reluctant to bring to you all that radical Muslims are actually doing every single day, let me suggest www.thereligionofpeace.com. The actions of the Nazis in their hatred of the Jews and their desire to destroy the Jews give us an historical perspective as to how far Satan is willing to take things. Their willingness to destroy the lives of millions of Jews as if their lives are meaningless give us an idea of just how far Satan is willing to go when it comes to inflicting pain and misery upon the human race. What we observe here in the garden may seen fairly academic and bloodless, but the end result is going to be a mountain of suffering inflicted upon the human race, which can all be traced back to Satan.

Indeed is the Hebrew word ʾaph (אַף) [pronounced ahf] and it is a conjunction which introduces a new, emphatic thought. It can be translated also, indeed, really. Thieme renders this conjunction is it really true that. Satan does not even refer to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He will allow the woman to bring it up. He is speaking as though he has heard this rumor and he's just curious whether or not it is true.

Gen 3:1b He asked the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must never eat the fruit of any tree in the garden'?"

In the English, our 2^nd person masculine singular pronoun is identical to our 3^rd person masculine singular pronoun. Those in the south have sought to correct it with you’all and those in the north offer up the weaker youse guys, but in literary English there is no difference. The Hebrew differentiates between these. Throughout these first several verses, even though Satan is talking to just the woman, he includes Adam in all that he said. Literally, Satan asked the woman, “Indeed, did God say, ‘You [both] will not eat from every tree of the garden’?”

——————————

The woman answers the serpent:

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                And the woman said to the serpent, From the rest of the fruits of the trees of the garden we have power to eat;...

Latin Vulgate                          And the woman answered him, saying: Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so says the woman unto the serpent, “From fruit of a tree of the garden, we eat.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of all the trees of the garden;...

Septuagint (Greek)                And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden,...

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           The woman said to the snake, "We may eat the fruit of the garden's trees...

Contemporary English V.       The woman answered, "God said we could eat fruit from any tree in the garden,...

Easy English                          This is how the woman answered the snake. `We can eat the fruit from the trees in the garden.

Easy-to-Read Version            The woman answered the snake, “{No! God did not say that!} We can eat fruit from the trees in the garden.

Good News Bible (TEV)         "We may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden," the woman answered,...

The Message                         The Woman said to the serpent, "Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden.

New Berkeley Version           The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the garden’s trees;...

New Living Translation           "Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden," the woman replied.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          And the woman replied to the snake, 'We can eat the fruit from the trees of Paradise,... The AEB and the LXX both have this and the completion of this sentence as v. 3.

Ancient Roots Translinear      The woman said to the serpent, "We eat of the fruit trees of the garden,...

Beck’s American Translation “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,” the woman answered the snake.

God’s Word™                         The woman answered the snake, "We're allowed to eat the fruit from any tree in the garden...

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             And the woman said, We may take of the fruit of the trees in the garden: ...

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 And the woman replied to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the Garden;...

New Advent Bible                  And the woman answered him, saying: Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat:...

NET Bible®                             The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat [There is a notable change between what the LORD God had said and what the woman says. God said "you may freely eat" (the imperfect with the infinitive absolute, see Gen. 2:16), but the woman omits the emphatic infinitive, saying simply "we may eat." Her words do not reflect the sense of eating to her heart's content.] of the fruit from the trees of the orchard;...

NIV – UK                                The woman said to the snake, `We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,...

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Concordant Literal Version    And saying is the woman to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we are eating,...

exeGeses companion Bible   And the woman says to the serpent,

We eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:...

LTHB                                     And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden,...

Syndein                                  {Woman's Vulnerability in Satan's Distortion - First Woman's Sexual Revolution Begins - Rejecting Authority of God and Her Right Man}

And the woman replied to the serpent, "From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat."

Young’s Updated LT             And the woman says unto the serpent, “Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we do eat,...

The gist of this verse:          The woman responds to the serpent, telling him that they could eat from the trees of the garden.

Translation: The woman then answered the serpent,... The serpent speaks with feigned respect to the woman, so the woman speaks with genuine respect back to the serpent, not really knowing who he is.

Translation:...“We eat from the fruit of the trees [lit., tree] in the garden. The word for tree is often used as a collective; therefore, we can translate this word, trees, forest, forest of trees. The woman eats the fruit from these trees every day. So she testifies clearly to the serpent that she and the man eat from the trees in the garden.

Gen 3:2 The woman answered the snake, "We're allowed to eat the fruit from any tree in the garden.”

The snake knows this. Ever since God created the man and the woman, Satan has been watching with intent interest. He knows what the prohibition is, and he wants to confuse the woman as to what is true and what is not.

Satan added a very specific question: "Did God really say, 'You must never eat the fruit of any tree in the garden'?" The woman sticks up for God. She tells Satan that she can eat the fruit of any fruit-bearing tree in the garden but one.

——————————

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                ...but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden the Lord hath said, You shall not eat of it, nor approach it, lest you die

Latin Vulgate                          But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And from fruit of the tree which [is] in a midst of the garden, said Elohim, ‘You will not eat from it and you will not touch in it lest you die.’ ”

Peshitta (Syriac)                    But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.

Septuagint (Greek)                ...but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           ...but not the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden. God said, `Don't eat from it, and don't touch it, or you will die.'"

Contemporary English V.       ...except the one in the middle. He told us not to eat fruit from that tree or even to touch it. If we do, we will die."

Easy English                          But God said, "You must not eat the fruit from a certain tree. That tree is in the middle of the garden. Do not even touch it, otherwise you will die." '

Easy-to-Read Version            But there is one tree we must not eat from. God told us, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not even touch that tree or you will die.’”

Good News Bible (TEV)         ..."except the tree in the middle of it. God told us not to eat the fruit of that tree or even touch it; if we do, we will die."

The Message                         It's only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, 'Don't eat from it; don't even touch it or you'll die.'"

New Century Version             But God told us, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden. You must not even touch it, or you will die.' "

New Life Bible                        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.' "

New Living Translation           "It's only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, `You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.'"

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          ...but God said that we shouldn't eat the fruit from the tree in the middle of Paradise - that we shouldn't even touch it - or we will die.'

Ancient Roots Translinear      ...but God said of the fruit tree in the midst of the garden, 'Never eat it and never touch it--otherwise you will die!"

Beck’s American Translation “But God did say, ‘Don’t eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, and don’t touch it, or yoiu will die.’ ”

Christian Community Bible     ...but of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden God said: You must not eat, and you must not touch it or you will die.”

God’s Word™                         ...except the tree in the middle of the garden. God said, 'You must never eat it or touch it. If you do, you will die!'"

New American Bible              ...it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, `You shall not eat it or even touch it, or else you will die.'" Gn 2:17; Rom 6:23.

New Jerusalem Bible             But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, "You must not eat it, nor touch it, under pain of death." '

Revised English Bible            ...except for the tree in the middle of the garden. God has forbidden us to eat the fruit of that tree or even to touch it; if we do, we shall die.’

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, If you take of it or put your hands on it, death will come to you.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 ...but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the Garden, God has said, ‘do not eat of it, and do not even touch it, lest you die.’ ”

HCSB                                     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.'"

JPS (Tanakh—1985)               It is only about fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said: ‘You shall not eat of it or touch it, lest you die.’ ”

New Advent Bible                  But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God has commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die.

NET Bible®                             ...but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, 'You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it [And you must not touch it. The woman adds to God's prohibition, making it say more than God expressed. G. von Rad observes that it is as though she wanted to set a law for herself by means of this exaggeration (Genesis [OTL], 86).], or else you will die [The Hebrew construction is פֶּן (pen) with the imperfect tense, which conveys a negative purpose: "lest you die" = "in order that you not die." By stating the warning in this way, the woman omits the emphatic infinitive used by God ("you shall surely die," see Gen_2:17).].' "

NIV – UK                                ...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."'

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                Except the fruit from the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.

Concordant Literal Version    ...yet from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, the Elohim says, `Not eat of it shall you, and not touch it shall you, lest you be dying.

Context Group Version          ...but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You { pl } shall not eat of it, neither shall you { pl } touch it, or else you { pl } will die.

English Standard Version      ...but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"

Heritage Bible                        And concerning the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, and you shall not touch it, lest you die.

Syndein                                  "But from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, Elohiym/Godhead has said {allegedly}, 'You shall not eat from it, neither shall you touch it {mistake!}, lest you die.'" {Note: The woman misquoted God's instructions - God did not say not to 'touch' the fruit . . . only not to eat it. She is not 'sharp' in her soul. Maybe she was negative to the word or lack of concentration on the teaching. The danger was in negative volition in the soul not in contact with the tree. And, under the influence of Satan, now she called 'Jehovah Elohiym' just Elohiym . . .}

Young’s Updated LT             And of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God has said, you do not eat of it, nor touch it, lest you die.”

The gist of this verse:          The woman recounts that God said, “You cannot eat from the tree nor touch it, or you will die.” The second restriction was not given by God.

Translation: But from the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden,... The woman then focuses upon a specific tree, and, apparently, this tree stands out. I have no idea how large this garden was, whether this was a few acres or many square miles, but the woman does not even name this tree. She does not call it the Tree of Knowing Good and Evil. It is simply the tree in the middle of the garden. I am not sure how you understand a garden to be, but in any large garden, it is difficult to pick out a tree in the middle of a garden. Furthermore, the words here, in the midst of, there is no clearly defined, exact middle. That is, one could not take the woman’s description here and find the tree. My point here is, the woman appears to be hesitant to even name the tree; to even specify it.

“There is this tree towards the middle of the garden...” is roughly what she is saying.

Translation: ...Elohim has said, ‘You [both] will not eat from it... I have inserted the word both. You is in the masculine plural, and you all would correctly translate this; however, you all includes only two people, the man and the woman. Therefore, I have rendered the plural suffix you both.

God has said is also somewhat vague. First of all, God is spoken of less personally here; His title is used, but not His name. Secondly, the woman does not say, “God said to the man...” or “God said to us...” Therefore, it would not be a stretch to say, “God gave the command...” or “God has commanded...”

Translation: ...nor will you touch it, lest you die.’ ” Then the woman, apparently having a doctrinal breakthrough, says, “Nor will you touch it...” which God did not say.

The woman reveals that either she has not been listening or she has had a doctrinal breakthrough which she has been dying to share with someone. God never said anything about touching the tree. This reminds me of the story Garrison Keilor would tell about the pump handle in back of the grade school in winter. If you put your tongue on it, your spit would freeze and you might have to stay there all winter. Therefore, the younger kids, fully aware of these consequences would not go back there unless they had to, and if they did, they would keep their mouths firmly shut at all times. So the woman thought that she had better not even touch it. The property of death was not inherent in the tree but in her volition with respect to the tree. She does not mention the title of the tree, and she is even a little confused on the doctrine of what will actually happen. She does not say in dying you will die, she merely says that you will be dying. This is in the imperfect voice, so that incomplete action is implied. Satan knows that he has her now. She has misquoted God's Word. She does not even have the gist of it. This indicates that she is not paying close attention in Bible class. Even Satan will correctly quote God's Word (and then negate it).

Again, God’s exact words were: And Y^ehowah Elohim commanded the man, saying, “You may freely eat [lit., eating, you may eat] from every tree of the garden, but you will not eat from the Tree of Knowledge [of] good and evil, for in the day that you eat from it, dying, you will die.”

So, the woman paraphrased what was said. We do not know if God gave this particular command to the woman; God clearly gave it to the man. Throughout the command, we have 2^nd person masculine singular suffixes or verbs. Whether God gave this command to the woman or not, we do not know. However, since the command was given to the man before the woman was made, this command applied to both the man and the woman.

What I would reasonably guess is, this command was clearly given to man. Man, as the authority over the woman, conveyed this command to the woman.

There appears to be a regular time when God spoke to the man, and possibly to the woman. That will be the intimation of Gen. 3:8, when God comes to them in the breeze of the day, suggesting that God did this regularly.

As all of this occurs, always bear in mind that the woman has no sin nature and she is unable to sin. In all of this conversation, despite not recalling the Word of God exactly, she has not sinned. There is only one sin that she can commit, and that is eating from the Tree of Knowing Good and Evil.

Gen 3:2–3 The woman answered the snake, "We're allowed to eat the fruit from any tree in the garden except the tree in the middle of the garden. God said, 'You must never eat it or touch it. If you do, you will die!'"

This was exactly what Satan was looking for. He needed for the woman to express an incorrect understanding of the Word of God. This would give Satan an opening which he could exploit.

Adam and the woman had been given one prohibition to test their volition. There was the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil in the midst of the garden, and they were told not to eat from it. God told them, "But you must never eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because when you eat from it, in dying, you will die." This means that they would die two deaths--they would die spiritually—they would be separated from God right then and there—and they would also eventually die physically, as a result of their spiritual death. In addition to this, God would no longer allow them near the Tree of Life so that they did not perpetuate their lives separated from God.

God gave the man and the woman free will, so there must be some choice offered to them to test their free will with respect to God. They have to have some way to choose against God from a state of perfection, or, otherwise, they do not have true free will.

Now, you will note that the woman did not listen very carefully to Jesus (the Revealed Member of the Trinity) teaching them in the garden. To be fair, it may have been Adam who taught this to the woman, as he was her authority. They were only prohibited from eating the fruit of that tree; God never said anything about touching it. She made that up on her own (or, perhaps, Adam added, “It is better that you do not even touch that tree or its fruit”). In any case, someone had added to the Word of God.

The last words she says are interesting as well: “You [plural] will die.” She is only quoting a portion of what was told to her. She was told, “Dying, you [plural] will die.” In this way, she was taking away from the Word of God.

——————————

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                In that hour the serpent spoke accusation against his Creator, and said to the woman, Dying you will not die; for every artificer hates the son of his art:...

Latin Vulgate                          And the serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so says the serpent unto the woman, “Not dying, you will [not] die;...

Peshitta (Syriac)                    And the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die;...

Septuagint (Greek)                And the serpent said to the woman, You shall not surely die!

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Contemporary English V.       "No, you won't!" the snake replied.

Easy-to-Read Version            But the snake said to the woman, “You will not die.

Good News Bible (TEV)         The snake replied, "That's not true; you will not die.

The Message                         The serpent told the Woman, "You won't die.

New Life Bible                        The snake said to the woman, "No, you for sure will not die!

New Living Translation           "You won't die!" the serpent replied to the woman.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          Then the snake told the woman, 'You won't stop living and die,...

Ancient Roots Translinear      The serpent said into the woman, "You will not ||die||!

Beck’s American Translation “You’re not going to die,’ the snake told the woman.

God’s Word™                         "You certainly won't die!" the snake told the woman.

NIRV                                      "You can be sure that you won't die," the serpent said to the woman.

Revised English Bible            ‘Of course you will not die,’ said the serpent.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             And the snake said, Death will not certainly come to you:...

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 But the serpent answered the woman: “You will not die;...

HCSB                                     "No! You will not die," the serpent said to the woman.

New Advent Bible                  And the serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death.

NET Bible®                             The serpent said to the woman, "Surely you will not die [The response of the serpent includes the infinitive absolute with a blatant negation equal to saying: "Not - you will surely die" (lo' mot tÿmutun). The construction makes this emphatic because normally the negative particle precedes the finite verb. The serpent is a liar, denying that there is a penalty for sin (see John 8:44).] [Surely you will not die. Here the serpent is more aware of what the Lord God said than the woman was; he simply adds a blatant negation to what God said. In the account of Jesus' temptation Jesus is victorious because he knows the scripture better than Satan (Matt 4:1-11).],... The full NET Bible translation, without footnotes, is: The serpent said to the woman, "Surely you will not die,...

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

Concordant Literal Version    And saying is the serpent to the woman, "Not to die shall you be dying,...

Context Group Version          And the serpent said to the woman, You { pl } shall not surely die:...

English Standard Version      But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.

Heritage Bible                        And the snake said to the woman, Dying, you shall not die,...

Syndein                                  And the serpent {while possessed by Satan} said unto the woman, "Emphatically! You will NOT die." {Note: Satan through the instrumentality of the possessed serpent, is denying a relationship between sin and 'dying'.. The woman is thinking physical death (which she only knows from doctrine taught to her), but the true meaning of spiritual death is too close for Satan so he lies to her here! In Rev 12:9, Satan is called 'the serpent'.}.

A Voice in the Wilderness      And the serpent said to the woman, You shall not die the death.

Young’s Updated LT             And the serpent says unto the woman, “Dying, you will not die,...

The gist of this verse:          Satan tells the woman that she will not die.

Translation: The serpent then said to the woman,... Satan’s attack upon the man and the woman goes first to the woman, as second in command. Satan needs for her to rebel; for her to take a principled stand in favor of eating the fruit from all the trees.

Translation:...“[In] dying, you will not die;... Satan begins with a negative, which is not unusual, and then repeats what God had said to the man, except with the 2^nd person masculine plural verb. He is, more or less saying, “No...” or “Not true...” following by dying, you will [both] die.

Dying is used twice in this verse. It is used in exactly the way Yahweh Elohim used the verb in Gen. 2:17. It is first found in the Qal infinitive absolute along with a negative, and then in the Qal imperfect second masculine plural. An infinitive absolute acts as a verbal noun and it can be used to intensify a meaning or to complement a meaning. We have come to a full understanding of spiritual and temporal death, and therefore translate these two words in a state of death, you will begin to die. Satan adds a negative to the Qal infinitive absolute, and could be cumbersomely translated, It is not true that in a state of death you will die. This could be shortened to in dying, you will not die. Note also that when God spoke these words originally to Adam, the suffix was the second masculine singular; however, when Satan speaks to the woman, he uses the second masculine plural, telling her that neither she nor Adam would die. Thieme, at one time, gave the rather free translation, "the wages of sin isn't death, honey; eat".

Gen 3:4 "You certainly won't die!" the snake told the woman.

Satan lies to the woman. Literally what he says is, “Not dying, you will die.” The negative may be reasonably applied to the repetition of this verb: “Not dying, you will [not] die.” The serpent actually corrects her at this point. He gives her a direct quote (but with the negative), which I am sure she recognizes. When she hears the doubling of the verb, as God spoke originally, she recognized that this Serpent was quite clever and must know what he is talking about.

Have you ever known someone who could speak with authority and he sounded extremely intelligent and charming, and you simply wanted to believe whatever he told you? Some people just have that natural charisma. Satan is the most beautiful creature in the universe (although the woman cannot see that) and he is the most intelligent creature in the universe. He is charismatic and interesting to talk to.

We do not completely know the thinking of Satan. Does he fully realize that pain and anguish that this will cause? Does he think in his own soul this is the best thing to do? I gave the example before, when one child offers his best friend drugs, he is not thinking, “I really want for you to screw up your life.” That is where this can lead, but that is not necessarily the intention of the friend. How far forward is Satan able to look? This man and woman are a brand new thing on this earth. As a chess player, how many moves in advance is Satan able to see? In any case, Satan does this for his own self-interest. He may justify that he is doing this for the other angels that fell, but Satan caused them to fall through his charm, beauty and intelligence, and specifically for his own ends, to make a point.

What is that point? “God, You design corruptible creatures; therefore, You ought to allow us all to live.” Satan is under judgment, which we have discussed earlier. He and the fallen angels have already been condemned to the Lake of Fire, where they will burn forever. Since that sentence has not been carried out, Satan has obviously appealed this verdict.

Let me make an application here: maybe you have been drawn to a person because they were charming, attractive and intelligent? Maybe you wanted to date someone like that. Maybe you have observed people like that and you wanted to be their friend. Maybe you have voted for a person with those qualities. Maybe you have followed a religious leader with these qualities. These are qualities which Satan possesses. These qualities alone will not make someone a good friend, a good husband (or wife), or even a good president. What is lacking? Character. Personal integrity. Quite obviously, in this world of sin, no person is perfect. However, if you are able to recognize true personal integrity in another person, this is far more important than charm, attractiveness and intelligence.

As has been pointed out, Satan is extremely intelligent, and, like an excellent chess player, he might be able to look forward to many possible permutations of moves. However, his foresight is limited. God, on the other hand, knows the end from the beginning (Isa. 46:10). He knows the result of every free will choice that every single person and creature will make. And God has perfect integrity. His character is made up of truth, love, justice and righteousness.

The most intelligent, charming, and personable creature in the universe (apart from God) will now lie to the woman.

Gen 3:4 "You certainly won't die!" the snake told the woman.

Satan also includes Adam in this statement. The word you comes from the 2^nd person masculine plural, Qal imperfect of the verb to die. Literally, what Satan says is, “Not dying, you [both you and Adam] will [not] die.” His every word is carefully crafted. He needs for the woman to think in terms of herself and Adam. He wants Adam to make a clear, unadulterated, free will choice against God. Satan is intentionally deceiving the woman; but he needs for Adam to choose against God without being deceived.

Here, Satan denies that there is a relationship between sin—disobeying God—and dying. This carries over today, but in a slightly different form. We are all fallen creatures now. We are born with a sin nature. It is a part of our genetic code. We will all die physically. Today, Satan does not want us to pay attention or to think about the results of sin. “If you are good you go to heaven and if you are bad you go to hell,” is a lie from Satan. When we sin, there are always negative results, but going to hell is not one of them. Faith in Christ eliminates hell (the Lake of Fire) from your future; no believer will be under eternal judgment. However, every believer or unbeliever who sins will have a negative affect upon himself and upon those around him.

Satan is charming; he is incredibly intelligent; and he is the most beautiful creature in the universe. However, as fallen, Satan lacks integrity. He cannot leave Adam and the woman alone; he attacks the woman, the weaker vessel; and he lies to her. If you can think of a person who is extremely intelligent, very attractive and extraordinarily charming—and if this person has lied right to your face—he has looked you straight in the eye, and with great sincerity and charm, has flat out lied to you—told you things which he knew were flat out false—then you have an idea of what Satan is like. You may still like that person. You may be enamored of that person. But without integrity, that person ought not to be your friend, your spouse, your pastor or your political representative at any level. He or she will just use you to get whatever it is that they want.

Let’s recap the first 4 verses:

Gen 3:1 The snake was more clever [= crafty, insidious, devious, shrewd] than all the wild animals the LORD God had made. He asked the woman, "Did God really say, 'You [and Adam] must never eat the fruit of any tree in the garden'?"

Although Satan begins by speaking to the woman, he intends for Adam to make a free will choice against God, without being deceived.

Gen 3:2–3 The woman answered the snake, "We're allowed to eat the fruit from any tree in the garden except the tree in the middle of the garden. God said, 'You must never eat it or touch it. If you do, you will die!'"

For whatever reason, the woman has two problems in her understanding here: God never said anything about touching the tree, and God warned her, “Dying, you will die.” She both adds to the Word of God and she takes from the Word of God. Here is where Satan sees his opening. He says:

Gen 3:4 "Not dying, you [and Adam] will not die!" the snake told the woman.

The woman recognizes this phrase, except Satan adds the negative. It sounds as if Satan knows what he is talking about, as he uses the verb twice, just as God and Adam had.

——————————

Satan continues lying to the woman:

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                ...for it is manifest before the Lord, that in the day that you eat of it, you will be as the great angels, who are wise to know between good and evil.

Latin Vulgate                          For God does know that in what day soever you will eat thereof, your eyes will be opened: and you will be as Gods, knowing good and evil.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        ...for knowing Elohim that in a day of your eating from him and opened your [two] eyes and you [both] are like Elohim, knowers of good and evil.”

Peshitta (Syriac)                    For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be like gods, knowing good and evil.

Septuagint (Greek)                For God knew that in whatever day you should eat of it, your eyes would be opened, and you would be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           God knows that on the day you eat from it, you will see clearly and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Contemporary English V.       "God understands what will happen on the day you eat fruit from that tree. You will see what you have done, and you will know the difference between right and wrong, just as God does."

Easy English                          God knows that if you eat the fruit from that tree you will learn about good and evil. And then you will be the same as God!”

Easy-to-Read Version            But when you eat the fruit, your eyes will open. God knows that. You will be like God and you will know right things and wrong things.'

Good News Bible (TEV)         God said that because he knows that when you eat it, you will be like God and know what is good and what is bad."

The Message                         God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you'll see what's really going on. You'll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil."

New Century Version             God knows that if you eat the fruit from that tree, you will learn about good and evil and you will be like God!"

New Life Bible                        For God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and bad."

New Living Translation           "God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil."

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          ...for God knows that on whatever day you eat from it your eyes will be opened wide and you will be like gods knowing good and evil.'

Ancient Roots Translinear      For God knows the day you eat from it, your eyes will unseal, and you will be as God, knowing good and evil."

God’s Word™                         "God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened. You'll be like God, knowing good and evil."

New American Bible              God knows well that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods, who know [Like gods, who know: or "like God who knows."] good and evil." Wis 2:24; Sir 25:14; Is 14:14; Jn 8:44; 2 Cor 11:3.

NIRV                                      "God knows that when you eat the fruit of that tree, you will know things you have never known before. You will be able to tell the difference between good and evil. You will be like God."

Revised English Bible            ‘...for God knows that, as soon as you eat it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God himself, knowing both good and evil.’

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             For God sees that on the day when you take of its fruit, your eyes will be open, and you will be as gods, having knowledge of good and evil.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 ...but God knows at the time you eat of it, your eyes will then be opened, and you will be like God, acquainted with both good and evil.”

HCSB                                     "In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

JPS (Tanakh—1985)               ...but God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like divine beings who know [Others “God, who knows.”] good and bad.”

Judaica Press Complete T.    For God knows that on the day that you eat thereof, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like angels, knowing good and evil."

New Advent Bible                  For God knows that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil.

NET Bible®                             ...for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open [Or "you will have understanding." This obviously refers to the acquisition of the "knowledge of good and evil," as the next statement makes clear] and you will be like divine beings who know [Or perhaps "like God, knowing." It is unclear how the plural participle translated "knowing" is functioning. On the one hand, ??????? (yodÿ'e) could be taken as a substantival participle functioning as a predicative adjective in the sentence. In this case one might translate: "You will be, like God himself, knowers of good and evil." On the other hand, it could be taken as an attributive adjective modifying ???????? ('elohim). In this case ???????? has to be taken as a numerical plural referring to "gods," "divine beings," for if the one true God were the intended referent, a singular form of the participle would almost certainly appear as a modifier. Following this line of interpretation, one could translate, "You will be like divine beings who know good and evil." The following context may favor this translation, for in 3:22 God says to an unidentified group, "Look, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil." It is probable that God is addressing his heavenly court (see the note on the word "make" in 1:26), the members of which can be called "gods" or "divine beings" from the ancient Israelite perspective. (We know some of these beings as messengers or "angels.") An examination of parallel constructions shows that a predicative understanding ("you will be, like God himself, knowers of good and evil," cf. NIV, NRSV) is possible, but rare (see Gen 27:23, where "hairy" is predicative, complementing the verb "to be"). The statistical evidence strongly suggests that the participle is attributive, modifying "divine beings" (see Ps 31:12; Isa 1:30; 13:14; 16:2; 29:5; 58:11; Jer 14:9; 20:9; 23:9; 31:12; 48:41; 49:22; Hos 7:11; Amos 4:11). In all of these texts, where a comparative clause and accompanying adjective/participle follow a copulative ("to be") verb, the adjective/participle is attributive after the noun in the comparative clause.] good and evil [You will be like divine beings who know good and evil. The serpent raises doubts about the integrity of God. He implies that the only reason for the prohibition was that God was protecting the divine domain. If the man and woman were to eat, they would enter into that domain. The temptation is to overstep divinely established boundaries. (See D. E. Gowan, When Man Becomes God [PTMS], 25.)]."

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

American KJV                        For God does know that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil..

The Amplified Bible                For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil and blessing and calamity.

Concordant Literal Version    ...for the Elohim knows that, in the day you eat of it, unclosed shall be your eyes, and you become as the Elohim, knowing good and evil

Context Group Version          ...for God knows that in the day you { pl } eat, then your { pl } eyes shall be opened, and you { pl } shall be as God, knowing good and evil.

exeGeses companion Bible   ...for Elohim knows that in the day you eat thereof,

then your eyes open

and you, being as Elohim, know good and evil.

Green’s Literal Translation    ...for God knows that in the day you eat of it, even your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as God, knowing good and evil.

Heritage Bible                        Because God knows by seeing that in the day you eat from it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as God, knowing by seeing good and evil.

New RSV                               ...for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God [Or gods], knowing good and evil.'

Syndein                                  {Satan Appealing to the Woman's Pride - Desire to be 'God-like'}

"For Elohiym/God keeps on knowing that in the day you eat from it, THEN {the moment God supposedly fears!} your eyes shall be opened, and you shall become like the Elohiym/Godhead . . . knowing good and evil." {Note: Satan tells her God is trembling in heaven for fear that she might become as smart as He is. What a lie that one is! And, desire for 'Equality' is Satan's own lie. No two men are exactly 'equal'. The closest we come is at each person's point of salvation. At that one point, we have equal opportunity to take in the Word and GROW spiritually. But, then again based on your level of positive volition, we will become unequal again.}.

World English Bible                ...for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Young’s Updated LT             ...for God does know that in the day of your eating of it—your eyes have been opened, and you have been as God, knowing good and evil.”

The gist of this verse:          Satan tells the woman that God realizes that, when she eats of the forbidden fruit, she will be like God, knowing both good and evil.

Translation: ...for Elohim knows that in the day of your eating from the tree [lit., from it],... The serpent (Satan) continues speaking to the woman. The woman knows the name of that tree, and Satan tells her what will happen when she eats from the tree. It is certainly legitimate to render this, ...for God knows that in the day that you eat from it,...

Translation: ...that your eyes will be opened... In the world of the man and the woman, there was no good or evil. They did not have a sin nature, and, as long as they did not eat from the Tree of Knowing Good and Evil, their lives would be good; or, should I say, enjoyable.

One of the things that many parents try to keep their children from is the evil that is in the world. They attempt to preserve their innocence, which is something which is getting more and more difficult to do. We want them to play and learn, and we want to keep them from the many things that are out there that could corrupt them (drugs, crime, alcohol, sex).

This is God’s attitude toward the man and the woman. There was only one way they could become corrupted, and that was to do the one thing God told them not to do.

Translation: ...and you are [then] like Elohim, knowing good and evil.” What Satan is saying here is, essentially, true; that Adam and the woman would see things in a whole different light if they ate from the forbidden tree.

This is the beginning of false religion. God has a clearly revealed will here. There is no mistaking what He has told Adam and the woman. Just as there is no mistaking what we are told over and over again in the New Testament: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. I have put together roughly 4–5 pages of verses which say basically that. That is probably the most basic mandate of the Bible yet cults and religion deny it; they deny the Lord who bought them, and substitute in a set of works. Adam and the woman had one negative mandate to test their volition, and it was to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Satan, as the father of religion, ignores or distorts God's revealed truth and offers in replacement his own works or theology. He has told the woman that she will come to be as smart as God. He does not deny that the tree will provide the knowledge of good and evil; but that the result of knowing good and evil will be different than that which God outlined.

Let me offer an analogy: parents will protect their children as long as they can from the way that the world is. There is no need to expose them to obscene language or to profanity; no need for them to be confused by excessive violence or by the misuse of sex; no need for them to be faced with drugs. Parents will try to keep these things from their children as long as possible, even though these things are found out there in the real world. It is impossible to keep a child from these things for their entire life because we do live in the devil's world and we are faced with his distortions of God's provisions daily; however, most parents, if they could protect their children from association with any of these things up until the child is 14 or 18 or even 21, they would. There is no need for our children to be faced at a young age, in innocence, as it were, to inappropriate language, violence, sex and drugs. We certainly, as the time comes, give outlines of mandates concerning these things. This is analogous to Yahweh God in the garden with Adam and the woman. They had no need to be faced with Satan's fall or Satan's system or Satan's religions. God had provided them a perfect, idyllic existence in the Garden of Eden. They had everything they needed and what Satan did or thought was not an issue to them; just as the immorality or viciousness of humankind is not an issue to a four-year-old child..

Although speaking just to the woman, Satan includes the man in on these conversations. All of the second person references and suffixes are in the plural. He said, "You [plural] will be like God [plural]; knowers of good and evil." As Thieme has said many times; the woman did not become as smart as God; she instead found out how smart God was. So the woman goes up and inspects the tree carefully. In one verse we find a change in life as has never been seen since in human history. In the space of a few minutes, the bodies fo Adam and the woman will change, the world will change, and corruption, degeneration and decay will become a part of life.

There is an implication here, and this is a misperception of many people: that there is something out there which confines God (beyond the confines of His Own perfect character). Some think—whether they express this or not—that there are things in this universe which are older, more powerful and/or exist outside of God’s plan or sovereignty. Take this tree, for instance. Satan is implying that, this tree provides more than God is willing to give to the woman. God should have given the woman the ability to know good and evil, but He short-changed her here. But, there is this tree here, and that tree will give her what she needs and desires. It is as if this tree here exists completely apart from God, something that He has no control over. She has the opportunity to take from it, before Adam returns, and to find out for herself. It is as if she can step outside of God’s control and enter into a place that God does not have any control over.

Satan’s promise that this tree will give these things to the woman implies that God has chosen to withhold these things from the woman, but luckily, there is this tree here to give the woman the chance to have these things. It is as if God is unable to remove this tree; it is as if this tree is more powerful than God. It is as if this tree goes beyond God.

Here is the first lesson of evil: Satan cannot just let this go. He cannot meander off to some other side of the universe and hang out with his buddies, the other fallen angels. Satan sees as his mission to corrupt the man and the woman. This will be focus of his mission. Evil looks to corrupt others.

A person who takes drugs, for instance, cannot simply take drugs. At some point, he will become more involved. He will become evangelistic about drug use, and corrupt friends; or he may deal drugs, which means, in order for him to make a good living, he must corrupt hundreds and even thousands of others.

Gen 3:5 "God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened. You will be like God, knowing good and evil."

Your Bible may read, “You will be like the gods.” The word here is ʾĚlôhîym (אלֹהִים) [pronounced el-o-HEEM], which means God; gods, foreign gods, god; rulers, judges; superhuman ones, angels; and it is often transliterated Elohim. Strong's #430 BDB #43. This is the exact same word as we found in Gen. 3:1 as well as at the beginning of this verse. At no time in the Bible previous to this is Elohim used to mean gods. Therefore, we are reasonably speaking about God and not about angels or heathen gods. In fact, there is no indication that Adam and Eve know anything about angelic creation.

Even Satan appears to Eve as a lowly snake, not in all of his own beauty. She has no clue as to how beautiful Satan is; nor does she have any clue as to how vicious and evil Satan is. As a serpent, he appears quite harmless to her. After all, she has dominion over the animals.

Lies are far more effective when the truth is mixed in. You cannot tell a story where everything is a lie. You slip in a little truth here and there—particularly truth which the hearer knows about—and interweave that with lies. This tree is called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. So, whatever good and evil are, this tree is related to that. So, what Satan says here is accurate; when the man and the woman eat of this tree, their eyes will be opened; they will go from innocence to knowing good and evil, as God does. Satan mixes in a little truth with the lies.

One of the things hidden in the Hebrew is, the 2^nd person suffixes here are all plural. So that we understand this in the English, we might better understand Satan to say:

Gen 3:5 "God knows that when you [both] eat it your eyes [the eyes of Adam and Eve] will be opened. You will [both] be like God, knowing good and evil."

Satan implants into this woman’s brain that she will eat from this tree and then Adam will eat from this tree. This is a psychological ploy to get the woman to think beyond just herself eating from the tree. The entire human race will be affected here. We will all be able to distinguish good and evil. What Satan is saying here is truthful.

Sin is insidious. It takes a little truth and mixes in some lies, and presents it to us. Sin is persistent. Satan has access to a universe so huge that our minds are unable to comprehend its size, yet Satan focuses his energies right here in this garden on earth with the woman who is innocent. Evil cannot just let innocence be.

One of the reasons that child molestation is viewed with such contempt—even by criminals—is, the attack is made against a child who is innocent. It is an affront to our sensibilities. Most everyone can relate back to that time of innocence as a child, and it is particularly heinous to take that away from a child. This is exactly what Satan did to the woman. She was perfectly innocent; he was corrupt; and he corrupted her innocence. If you need to understand how evil this is, think of this as the rape of an innocent child. In essence, that is what Satan is doing. He is going to take away the innocence of this woman.

Gen 3:5 "God knows that when you [both] eat it your eyes [the eyes of Adam and Eve] will be opened. You will [both] be like God, knowing good and evil."

Satan refers to both Adam and the woman, as this will be a choice that they will both make. He is not so much trying to get the woman to offer the fruit to Adam after she eats from the tree (as she will do), but for her to see this as something which she and Adam do as a couple. Satan knows that once the woman eats, Adam will have to eat. His emotions will overwhelm him. He loves this woman more than anything else in the world, and he is not willing to let her go. Adam knows that there is no one else in the world meant for him. He will be willing to join her in disobeying God.

We also have the phrase here, “Your eyes will be opened.” The idea is, the woman would have the knowledge that God has. She is not blind, but she is deficient in her knowledge—or so Satan tells her. Eating from the fruit of this tree will give her a greater understanding than she now has; she will be like God, and she and Adam will be discerners of good and evil (this is literally what Satan said), just like God. This is appealing and it sounds greatly empowering.

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The Fall: the Man and the Woman Succumb

At this point, the serpent steps back; he lets the woman carefully examine the tree and draw some conclusions for herself.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Targum of Onkelos                And the woman beheld Sammael, the angel of death, and was afraid; yet she knew that the tree was good to eat, and that it was medicine for the enlightenment of the eyes, and desirable tree by means of which to understand. And she took of its fruit, and did eat; and she gave to her husband with her, and he did eat.

Latin Vulgate                          And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband, who did eat.

Masoretic Text (Hebrew)        And so sees the woman that good the tree for food and that a delight this to the eyes and desirous the tree to look at. And so she takes from his fruit and so she eats and so she gives also to her man with her and so he eats.

Peshitta (Syriac)                    So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and that the tree was delightful to look at, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and she also gave to her husband with her; and he did eat.

Septuagint (Greek)                And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes to look upon and beautiful to contemplate, and having taken of its fruit she ate, and she gave to her husband also with her, and they ate.

Significant differences: 

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

Common English Bible           The woman saw that the tree was beautiful with delicious food and that the tree would provide wisdom, so she took some of its fruit and ate it, and also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Contemporary English V.       The woman stared at the fruit. It looked beautiful and tasty. She wanted the wisdom that it would give her, and she ate some of the fruit. Her husband was there with her, so she gave some to him, and he ate it too.

Easy-to-Read Version            The woman saw the tree was beautiful. She saw the fruit was good to eat. And it was exciting that the tree would make her wise. So the woman took fruit from the tree and ate it. Her husband was there with her, so she gave some of the fruit to him and he ate it.

Good News Bible (TEV)         The woman saw how beautiful the tree was and how good its fruit would be to eat, and she thought how wonderful it would be to become wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, and he also ate it.

The Message                         When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it--she'd know everything!--she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate.

New Berkeley Version           The woman saw the tree as being good for food, delightful to the eye and a tree desirable to render one wise, so she took of its fruit and ate; she also gave to her husband, who atre with her.

New Living Translation           The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too.

Partially literal and partially paraphrased translations:

American English Bible          Well, the woman saw that the tree was good for food, it was a pleasant sight to her eyes, and it was a beautiful thing to think about. So, after picking its fruit, she ate it. Then she gave some to her husband (who was with her), and they ate it [together].

Ancient Roots Translinear      The woman saw the good meat of the tree, and her eyes desired it and craved for comprehension from the tree. She took and ate the fruit, and also gave to her man with her. He ate, and...

Beck’s American Translation When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good to eat, a dlight to look at, and what anyone would want in order to get wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. Then she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

God’s Word™                         The woman saw that the tree had fruit that was good to eat, nice to look at, and desirable for making someone wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

New Jerusalem Bible             The woman saw that the tree was good to eat and pleasing to the eye, and that it was enticing for the wisdom that it could give. So she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

Bible in Basic English             And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and a delight to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and gave it to her husband.

Ferar-Fenton Bible                 So the woman perceiving that the tree was good for food, and beautiful to the eyes, and a tree stimulating to the intellect, she took some of its fruit and ate it, and gave some to her husband with her; and he also ate it.

HCSB                                     Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

NET Bible®                             When [Heb "And the woman saw." The clause can be rendered as a temporal clause subordinate to the following verb in the sequence.] the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food [Heb "that the tree was good for food." The words "produced fruit that was" are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.], was attractive [The Hebrew word ???????? (ta'avah, translated "attractive" here) actually means "desirable." This term and the later term ??????? (nekhmad, "desirable") are synonyms.] [Attractive (Heb "desirable").desirable. These are different words in Hebrew. The verbal roots for both of these forms appear in Deut 5:21 in the prohibition against coveting. Strong desires usually lead to taking.] to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise [Heb "that good was the tree for food, and that desirable it was to the eyes, and desirable was the tree to make one wise." On the connection between moral wisdom and the "knowledge of good and evil," see the note on the word "evil" in 2:9.] [Desirable for making one wise. The quest for wisdom can follow the wrong course, as indeed it does here. No one can become like God by disobeying God. It is that simple. The Book of Proverbs stresses that obtaining wisdom begins with the fear of God that is evidenced through obedience to his word. Here, in seeking wisdom, Eve disobeys God and ends up afraid of God.], she took some of its fruit and ate it [The pronoun "it" is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied (here and also after "ate" at the end of this verse) for stylistic reasons.] [She took.and ate it. The critical word now discloses the disobedience: "[she] ate." Since the Lord God had said, "You shall not eat," the main point of the divine inquisition will be, "Did you eat," meaning, "did you disobey the command?" The woman ate, being deceived by the serpent (1 Tim 2:14), but then the man ate, apparently willingly when the woman gave him the fruit (see Rom 5:12, 17-19).]. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it [This pericope (3:1-7) is a fine example of Hebrew narrative structure. After an introductory disjunctive clause that introduces a new character and sets the stage (3:1), the narrative tension develops through dialogue, culminating in the action of the story. Once the dialogue is over, the action is told in a rapid sequence of verbs - she took, she ate, she gave, and he ate.].

Limited Vocabulary Translations:

International Standard V        .

Catholic Bibles (those having the Imprimatur):

The Heritage Bible                 .

Jewish/Hebrew Names Bibles:

Kaplan Translation                 .

Expanded/Embellished Bibles:

Kretzmann’s Commentary    .

Lexham English Bible            .

Translation for Translators     .

The Voice                               .

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

The Amplified Bible                And when the woman saw that the tree was good (suitable, pleasant) for food and that it was delightful to look at, and a tree to be desired in order to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave some also to her husband, and he ate.