Genesis 3:17-24

Contemporary English Version

¹⁷^(A) The Lord said to the man,

“You listened to your wife
and ate the fruit
    I told you not to eat.
And so, the ground
will be under a curse
    because of what you did.
As long as you live,
you will have to struggle
    to grow enough food.
¹⁸Your food will be plants,
but the ground will produce
    thorns and thistles.
¹⁹You will sweat all your life
    to earn a living;
you were made out of soil,
and you will once again
    turn into soil.”

²⁰The man Adam^[a] named his wife Eve^[b] because she would become the mother of all who live.

²¹Then the Lord God made clothes out of animal skins for the man and his wife.

²²^(B) The Lord said, “They now know the difference between right and wrong, just as we do. But they must not be allowed to eat fruit from the tree that lets them live forever.” ²³So the Lord God sent them out of the Garden of Eden, where they would have to work the ground from which the man had been made. ²⁴Then God put winged creatures at the entrance to the garden and a flaming, flashing sword to guard the way to the life-giving tree.

Read full chapter