Bible Glide

Genesis 3 Summary, Context, and Full Chapter

Genesis 3 shows the first act of human disobedience and its lasting effects. The serpent questions God's word, Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit, and shame, fear, and blame follow. God speaks judgment, yet also gives signs of mercy and hope.

What happens in Genesis 3?

The serpent tempts Eve by twisting God's command and promising gain through disobedience. She eats the fruit, shares it with Adam, and both immediately become aware of their shame. When God calls to them, they hide, confessing fear and shifting blame. God judges the serpent, the woman, and the man, describing pain, conflict, and toil as new realities of life. He also clothes the pair with garments and sends them out of Eden, guarding the tree of life.

This chapter follows the creation and garden setting of Genesis 1 and 2. What began in innocence and abundance now turns to distrust, guilt, and separation from God. Genesis 3 explains why human life is marked by sin, hardship, and death, and it sets the stage for the rest of Genesis and the Bible's unfolding need for rescue.

  • Temptation and deceptionThe serpent questions God's word and leads the first humans to doubt what God has said.
  • Sin and its consequencesDisobedience brings shame, fear, blame, pain, toil, and exile from Eden.
  • Judgment and mercyGod speaks true judgment, yet also covers the couple and gives hope beyond the fall.
  • What words or actions show how the serpent leads Adam and Eve away from trust in God?
  • Why do shame, fear, and blame appear so quickly after they eat the fruit?
  • How do God's judgments and the clothing He provides show both justice and mercy?

Read the full text of Genesis 3 below, then open it in the reader to highlight, take notes, or ask follow-up Bible questions. No account is required to read.

Genesis 3

The Serpent’s Deception

1Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field that the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden?’”

2The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden,3but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You must not eat of it or touch it, or you will die.’”

4“You will not surely die,” the serpent told her.5“For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.7And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; so they sewed together fig leaves and made coverings for themselves.

God Arraigns Adam and Eve

8Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

9But the LORD God called out to the man, “Where are you?”

10“I heard Your voice in the garden,” he replied, “and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”

11“Who told you that you were naked?” asked the LORD God. “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

12And the man answered, “The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

13Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied, “and I ate.”

The Fate of the Serpent

14So the LORD God said to the serpent:

“Because you have done this,

cursed are you above all livestock

and every beast of the field!

On your belly will you go,

and dust you will eat,

all the days of your life.

15And I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your seed and her seed.

He will crush your head,

and you will strike his heel.”

The Punishment of Mankind

16To the woman He said:

“I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth;

in pain you will bring forth children.

Your desire will be for your husband,

and he will rule over you.”

17And to Adam He said:

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife

and have eaten from the tree

of which I commanded you not to eat,

cursed is the ground because of you;

through toil you will eat of it

all the days of your life.

18Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you,

and you will eat the plants of the field.

19By the sweat of your brow

you will eat your bread,

until you return to the ground—

because out of it were you taken.

For dust you are,

and to dust you shall return.”

20And Adam named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all the living.

The Expulsion from Paradise

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

22Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil. And now, lest he reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever...”23Therefore the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.24So He drove out the man and stationed cherubim on the east side of the Garden of Eden, along with a whirling sword of flame to guard the way to the tree of life.

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