Genesis 3

1. Now the serpent was cunning beyond any beast of the field that Hashem God had made. He said to the woman, "Did, perhaps, God say: 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?"


Depiction at left of the famous biblical story is by the post-impressionist (primitive) painter Henri Rousseau (1844-1910). At right is how William Blake (1757-1827) envisioned the same scene.


2. The woman said to the serpent, "Of the fruit of any tree of the garden we may eat.

This painting by William Blake, done at the end of the 18th century, is housed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

3. Of the fruit of the tree which is in the center of the garden God has said: 'You shall neither eat of it nor touch it, lest you die.'


In a Princeton University blog, this painting by Paul Gaugin of Tahitian women is described as illustrating the Impressionist painter's search for Eve, with the central figure in the painting reaching for the forbidden fruit.

4. The serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die



"Eve Tempted," by John Roddam Spencer Stanhope was painted approximately 1877. It now hangs in the Manchester (England) City Galleries.

5. for God knows that on the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and bad.




This depiction of "Eve and the Serpent" was painted about 1802 by Pierre Bergeret. It is in the collection of the Musee de Beaux Arts in Bordeaux

6. And the woman perceived that the tree was good for eating and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a means to wisdom, and she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her and he ate.


This painting on a panel by Jan Breughel the Elder, circa 1615, is in the collection of the Mauitshuis in The Hague, Netherlands. It depicts Eve feeding the forbidden fruit to Adam.

7. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they realized they were naked; and they sewed together a fig leaf and made themselves aprons.



This third century fresco, showing Adam and Eve with fig leaves, is located in the catacomb of St. Piretro and St. Marcellino.

8. They heard the sound of Hashem God manifesting itslf in the garden toward evening; and the man and his wife hid from Hashem God among the trees of the garden.



This engraving by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, circa 1851, originally appeared in the Bibel in Bildern. It is now circulated online in the World Mission Collection and also can be seen on a T-shirt sold via www.zazzle.com


9. Hashem God called out to the man and said to him, "Where are you?





Image above is a conceptualization of this verse by Dimension Ministries, a Christian outreach group based in Ladson, South Carolina.


10. He said, I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I am naked, so I hid.

Contemporary artist Alan Falk conceptualized this passage in the 2003 watercolor, "The Nakedness of Adam." His works, for sale, may be seen on his website, www.alanfalk.com

11. And He said, "Who told you that you are naked?" Have you eaten of the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?"

Above is an engraving on coppr executed in 1510 by the Dutch artist Lucan Van Leyden.

12. The man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me—she gave me of the tree, and I ate."

This painting on wood by Lucas Cranach the Elder, circa 1530, is in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. In the foreground, a robed God interrogates Adam and Eve.

13. And Hashem God said to the woman, "What is this that you have done!" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."


This woodcut by an unknown illustrator from the 1573 edition "Biblia, ad vetustissima exemplaria nunc recens casigata," is in the Pitts Theology Library. Notice how Adam points at Eve, and Eve points at the snake to explain their disobedience.

14. And Hashem God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, accursed are you beyond all the cattle and beyond all beasts of the field; upon your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life.


Contemporary book cover illustrator Duncan Long created "The Serpent's Curse" digitally in 2006. See other of his illustrations at : http://duncanlong.com/art.html


15. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He w ill pound your head, and you will bite his heel.

The painting above by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, circa 1605, takes this verse from Hebrew Scriptures and places it in a Christian context, in which Jesus is construed as the new Adam. The uncircumcized boy is Jesus. Crushing the snake with him is his mother, Mary, and the wizened lady watching this is Mary's mother Anne. The painting now at the Galleria Borghese in Rome was controversial in several ways: Mary's low-cut dress, Jesus's uncircumcised penis; the withered face of Anne, to whom this was supposed to be a tribute. But the point of the enmity between the snake and the woman and her offspring is dramatically illustrated.

16. To the woman He said, "I will greatly increase your suffering and your childbearing; in pain shall you bear children. Yet your craving shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.

This ancient figure portraying painful childbirth is within the collection of the Science Museum in London

17. To Adam He said, "Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate of the tree about which I commanded you saying, 'You shall not eat of it,' accursed is the ground because of you; through suffering shall you eat of it all the days of your life.



This interpretation by French painter Louis Beroud (1852-1930) is titled "The Curse on Humanity," and is in the collection of the Worldwide Church of God.

18. Thorns and thistles shall it sprout for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field.

This woodcut, showing Adam and Eve cowering as God delivers His judgment, was created by Johann Christoph Weigel in 1695 for the book, ""Biblia ectypa : Bildnussen auss Heiliger Schrifft Alt und Neuen Testaments." It is in the collection of the Pitt Theological Library at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

19. By the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread until you return to the ground, from which you were taken: For you are dust, and to dust shall you return."

An oft-quoted phrase from the Bible makes a perfect title for a book. This one by David J. Schnall can be purchased on www.Amazon.com



20 The man called his wife's name Eve, because she had become the mother of all the living.


Photo by Sara Appel-Lennon of "Adam and Eve Building," Nice,
France, April 2009


21 And Hashem God made for Adam and his wife garments of skin, and He clothed them.


Photo by Donald H. Harrison, Pacific Beach neighorhood of San
Diego, April 17, 2009



22. And Hashem God said, 'Behold Man has become like the Unique One, among us, knowing good and bad; and now lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of Life, and eat and live forever!'

This painting was found on the Grenswetenschap site, which addresses the fringes of knowledge. The unattributed image shows God in heaven surrounded by angels looking down upon Adam and Eve.