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Genesis

About this book

Disobedience and Expulsion from the Garden

Chapter 3

1 Now the serpent was shrewder than any of the wild animals⁠ that the Lord God had made.⁠ He said to the woman,⁠ “Is it really true that God said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?”⁠ 2 The woman said to the serpent,⁠ “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard;⁠ 3 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, or else you will die.’”⁠ 4 The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die,⁠ 5 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like God,⁠ knowing good and evil.”⁠ 6 When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye,⁠ and was desirable for making one wise,⁠ she took some of its fruit and ate it.⁠ She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her,⁠ and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.⁠ 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day,⁠ and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”⁠ 10 The man replied, “I heard you moving about in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”⁠ 11 And the Lord God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave me, she gave me some fruit from the tree and I ate it.”⁠ 13 So the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman replied, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.”⁠ 14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the cattle and all the living creatures of the field!⁠ On your belly you will crawl⁠ and dust you will eat all the days of your life.⁠ 15 And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”⁠ 16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your labor pains;⁠ with pain you will give birth to children.⁠ You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate you.”⁠ 17 But to Adam he said, “Because you obeyed the voice of52 your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you,⁠ ‘You must not eat from it,’ the ground is cursed because of you;⁠ in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.⁠ 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, but you will eat the grass of the field.⁠ 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.”⁠ 20 The man named his wife Eve,⁠ because she was the mother of all the living. 21 The Lord God made garments from skin⁠ for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.⁠ 22 And the Lord God said, “Now that the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil,⁠ he must not be allowed to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”⁠ 23 So the Lord God expelled him from the orchard in Eden⁠ to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken. 24 When he drove the man out, he placed on the eastern side of the orchard in Eden angelic sentries who used the flame of a whirling sword⁠ to guard the way to the tree of life.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 3:16 and Genesis 4:7

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Genesis 4 says sin desires Cain and that he must rule over it, echoing Genesis 3 where the woman’s desire turns toward her husband and he rules over her. The language may connect conflict between people with the inner struggle each person faces.

Passages

Genesis 3:16

Hebrew Bible
14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the cattle and all the living creatures of the field! On your belly you will crawl and dust you will eat all the days of your life. 15 And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your labor pains; with pain you will give birth to children. You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate you.” 17 But to Adam he said, “Because you obeyed the voice of52 your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ the ground is cursed because of you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, but you will eat the grass of the field.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Genesis 4:7

Hebrew Bible
5 but with Cain and his offering he was not pleased. So Cain became very angry, and his expression was downcast. 6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why is your expression downcast? 7 Is it not true that if you do what is right, you will be fine? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it.” 8 Cain spoke to his brother Abel.21 While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” And he replied, “I don’t know! Am I my brother’s guardian?”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

References

"... Among the notable literary links between Genesis 3 and 4, the most prominent was noted in the great Jewish compilation of Genesis traditions and exegesis, Genesis Rabbah. It was also observed by Augustine: “The same words spoken to Cain about sin or the depraved desire of the flesh are here used of the sinful woman”. Augustine, like Genesis Rabbah, was observing that God’s speech to Cain in Genesis 4:6–7 echoes the divine words to Eve in 3:16 ... The resemblance between Genesis 3:16 and 4:7 extends also to the clause that the noun governs, namely “desire” plus preposition “to”. The closest biblical analogy to Cain’s need “to rule” himself appears in the advice given in Proverbs 16:32: “One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and one whose temper is controlled [literally, “rules over his own spirit”] than one who captures a city.” This same verbal construction appears in the prayer in Psalm 19:14. Referring to “presumptuous sins”, the psalmist asks of God: “do not let them rule over me.” The “presumptuous sins” in this prayer appear personified as “arrogant persons,” much as sin is personified in Genesis 4:7. Psalm 19:14 captures what Cain is up against, needing to resist his subjugation to the negative power of sin. So the intriguing characterization of sin in Genesis 4:7 is hardly without parallels. It is a dramatic, evocative expression rather than a rational explanation ..."
Mark S. Smith, The Genesis of Good and Evil: The Fall(out) and Original Sin in the Bible (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2019), 66–67.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Comments

  • Why does the KJV mistranslate the Hebrew word (sha' ah), as RESPECT in Genesis 4? The word means turn gaze away in dismay. Abel is a KEEPER of SHEEP (rāʿâ ṣō'n), eater, enslaver of men. Cain the TILLER of GROUND (āḇaḏ 'ăḏāmâ) Gods productive servant.

    Nashalla, May 28, 2023

Genesis 3:16 and Genesis 4:7

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