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1Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?”

2The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, 3but not the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it. You shall not touch it, lest you die.’”

4The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t really die, 5for God knows that in the day you eat 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 that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate. Then she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too. 7Their eyes were opened, and they both knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made coverings for themselves. 8They heard Yahweh God’s voice walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden.

9Yahweh God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”

10The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; so I hid myself.”

11God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

12The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

13Yahweh God said to the woman, “What have you done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

14Yahweh God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,

you are cursed above all livestock,

and above every animal of the field.

You shall go on your belly

and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.

15I will put hostility between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and her offspring.

He will bruise your head,

and you will bruise his heel.”

16To the woman he said,

“I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth.

You will bear children in pain.

Your desire will be for your husband,

and he will rule over you.”

17To Adam he said,

“Because you have listened to your wife’s voice,

and have eaten from the tree,

about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’

the ground is cursed for your sake.

You will eat from it with much labor all the days of your life.

18It will yield thorns and thistles to you;

and you will eat the herb of the field.

19You will eat bread by the sweat of your face until you return to the ground,

for you were taken out of it.

For you are dust,

and you shall return to dust.”

20The man called his wife Eve because she would be the mother of all the living. 21Yahweh God made garments of animal skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.

22Yahweh God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever—” 23Therefore Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. 24So he drove out the man; and he placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

“Serpent” (nāḥāš, Heb. נָחָשׁ)

“Serpent” (nāḥāš, Heb. נָחָשׁ)

Topical Study | Gen 3:1 | Hershel Wayne House

Snakes, or serpents, and other reptiles similar to snakes that are not lizards. In the Bible there are several different species of snakes. In most cultures snakes and humans do not coexist but in ancient Egypt a snake indicated "life, health, and immortality." 

The book of Numbers speaks of a plague of snakes, the cure from Yahweh, was for Moses to make a bronze serpent and put it on a pole. If a person was bit by a serpent, the person who looked at the serpent was healed. (Num 21:6-7, 9). In the days of Hezekiah, the bronze serpent that was made by Moses was destroyed since the people of Israel had been burning incense to it, it was destroyed.

Among the various words used in the Bible, but the word nāḥāš is used in a generic sense, though it would probably speak of a poisonous snake. The cobra and the adder, also known as a viper, represents these type of poisonous serpents. The Egyptian cobra (Naja haje) refers to the snake who was used by snake charmers, in contrast of the desert cobra (Walterinnesia aegyptia) in Israel as seen in Psalm 58:4-5, and the tribe of Dan is compared to a viper in Genesis 49:17. Some believe that the horned viper (Cerastes cerastes) is intended in Psalm 58:4-5, since it has the habit of hiding in the sand.

Jeremiah 8:17 refers to the Palestine viper (Vipera palaestinae) that is not able to be charmed and is in the desert.

The serpent represents the enemy of God and the people of God in Genesis 3:1, 14-15, and in Revelation 12:9 speaks of the dragon, the serpent compared to Satan.

Much of this article is based on the work of Walter W. Ferguson, Living Animals of the Bible, pp. 68-69, and David Darom, Animals of the Bible: from the Lion to the Snail," pp. 30-31.