“Oh, we can eat from all the trees. That is, except for the one in the middle. God said that we aren’t to eat that fruit…or even touch it. He says if we do, we’ll die.”

“It’s not true! You won’t die. God told you that because he knows if you eat that fruit, you’d be like him—knowing good, as well as evil.”

The woman looked at the fruit. It was beautiful and looked delicious. She thought, “If I eat this fruit, it’ll make me wise.” So she took the fruit and ate it. She then gave some to Adam and he ate it as well. Suddenly they realized they were naked. So they sewed some fig leaves together to make coverings for themselves.

As evening approached, they heard God walking in the garden. Suddenly, they realized they were afraid of God, so they hid among the trees.

“Adam, where are you?”

Adam knew he had to answer. He said, “Lord, I heard you walking in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked. So, I hid.”

“Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat of the tree from which I told you not to eat?”

“It was the woman you gave me. She gave me the fruit, and…yes, I ate it.”

God turned to Eve, “Why did you do this?”

“The snake! The snake tricked me into eating it!”

God turned to the snake and said, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all the animals. From now on, you’ll move about on your belly. There’ll be hostility between you and the woman, and there’ll be a battle between your offspring and hers. He’ll crush your head, while you’ll only bruise his heel.”

Looking back at the woman God said, “Your pain will be great when you give birth to children, and having babies will be associated with pain. You’ll want to control your husband, but from now on, men will dominate over you.”

God said to Adam, “I made it very clear that you were not to eat from that tree. Because you have disobeyed, the ground is cursed. From now on, you’ll work for your food, and the ground will fight against you. It’ll sprout thorns and weeds. Hard work will mark your life until you return to the soil from which you came.”

God dressed the man and his wife in clothes made out of animal skins. He then sent them out of the garden, where they worked the soil for their food.

God said, “People now know evil as well as good. They’ll try to get to the Tree of Life so they can live forever.” Therefore, God put a heavenly guard outside the garden. From that day on, people were separated from the Tree of Life.