Genesis 3
[1] Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
[2] And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
[3] But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
[4] And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
[5] For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
[6] And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
[7] And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
[8] And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
[9] And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
[10] And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
[11] And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
[12] And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
[13] And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
[14] And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
[15] And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
[16] Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
[17] And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
[18] Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
[19] In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
[20] And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
[21] Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
[22] And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
[23] Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
[24] So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
[2] And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
[3] But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
[4] And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
[5] For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
[6] And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
[7] And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
[8] And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
[9] And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
[10] And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
[11] And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
[12] And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
[13] And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
[14] And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
[15] And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
[16] Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
[17] And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
[18] Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
[19] In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
[20] And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
[21] Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
[22] And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
[23] Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
[24] So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
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First we have a talking serpent, which is inconsistent with reality. We have no evidence of any serpent-like anything with the capability of human speech. It's the stuff of myth, clearly. Then, of course, the serpent and Eve were talking about the magical tree, the fruit of which would give humans the ability to discern good and evil--which is bad...how?
As a side note: there are a great many examples in the Bible of instance where to believe the story, you must believe in magic. This story is one of those. Magical tree, magical serpent, magical fruit. How does fruit impart knowledge? Not everyone believes in a literal interpretation of the Bible, to be sure, but some people do. Millions of people do--and this story is leading up to the fall of man, the original sin--the reason for Jesus to sacrifice himself thousands of years later, so the people who don't believe in a literal interpretation have to explain the idea of original sin.
Moving on, we basically have this serpent telling Eve (has she even been named at this point? She is only referred to as "the woman" thus far) that God lied. God lied?! Why would God deceive the humans? I also have to emphasize a point I brought up when the creation of the magical tree with the magical fruit appeared earlier: why create this tree at all, and give ready access to the humans who would "surely die" if they ate the fruit? The could not know disobedience was evil...then, there's the talking serpent who knows the truth, and God created this serpent and put him in the garden...why?
So...they eat the fruit, and suddenly, they believe that being naked is evil. They make clothes out of fig leaves because they have to cover their evil nakedness. They are man and wife, and they have no other humans around, but being naked--in front of EACH OTHER--is evil. Or is it evil to be naked in front of the animals? Or in front of God? And if it IS evil to be naked in front of God, does that make God evil, since he DOES have knowledge of good and evil, and he wanted them naked? If it was evil for them to be naked, then why didn't God have them clothed from the beginning?
Next, we have this weird scene where God asked who told them they were naked, which they shouldn't have been at this point, having made clothing out of fig leaves...and yet, Adam answered that the reason he was hiding was that he was ashamed that he was naked--NOT that he disobeyed God, mind you, but that he was naked and didn't want to be seen.
Of course, God needs to punish the people who couldn't know any better regarding the morality of eating the magical fruit off the magical tree that magically gave them knowledge of good and evil somehow.
I have to stop here for a moment. Knowledge doesn't come from food. Knowledge comes from sensory input. From a fruit, the most knowledge you can get is how it looks, feels, tastes, and smells--you can't get abstract knowledge from eating fruit. This story is just nonsensical the face of reality. Was it taken as a metaphor by the first people who believed it? I have to wonder. There are certainly people who take it literally today, and I cannot, for the life of me, understand how.
The punishments seem rather severe, but they aren't death (again, God lied): women will bring forth children "in sorrow"--the explanation for labor pains. Men shall rule over them. Really? Why does any self-respecting women believe in this book? Men will have to till the ground and generally toil for food (again, agriculture was not present when man first appeared on this planet. Agriculture came much later--only in the past 10k-15k years). Serpents can't talk anymore and must crawl on their bellies--an explanation for snakes slithering. Adam and Eve are kicked out of the garden of Eden and are given clothing made of skins. They were kicked out so they wouldn't eat from another tree that wasn't previously mentioned--the tree with fruit that would give them eternal life. Never before was this tree's fruit forbidden to eat, though.
Cherubims and a flaming sword allegedly guard the tree of life and the garden of Eden, but to this day, no one has reported finding anything of the kind. Weird.
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