Chapter III · Location 3 of 50
Chapter 3 · Open to readFrom Genesis · Douay–Rheims / Challoner (1749–1752)
What does the eating of the forbidden fruit actually lead to, compared with the serpent’s promise?
Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary
The serpent promises opened eyes and likeness to gods. Eating instead leads to awareness of nakedness, hiding, God’s judgments, and exclusion from the tree of life. Challoner explains the opened eyes as loss of grace and innocence.
Chapter breakdown
The serpent is more subtle than the other beasts God has made. It asks the woman why God has forbidden eating from every tree of paradise. She replies that they eat its fruit, except for the tree in the midst: she reports a command not to eat or touch that fruit, lest they die. The serpent denies the warning of death. It claims that God knows eating will open their eyes and make them like gods, knowing good and evil.
The woman sees that the tree is good for food, fair to the eyes and delightful to behold. She takes its fruit and eats, then gives it to her husband, who eats. Their eyes are opened. They perceive that they are naked, sew fig leaves together, and make aprons. Challoner explains that they were not previously blind: the woman had already seen the tree. Nor have they gained more perfect knowledge of good. Rather, they experience the loss of original grace and innocence and the evil of sin. He connects their resulting shame with bodily desires rebelling after that loss of grace.
Adam and his wife hear the voice of the Lord God walking in paradise in the afternoon air. They hide among the trees. God calls Adam and asks where he is. Adam says that he heard God’s voice, was afraid because he was naked, and hid. God asks who told him he was naked and whether he has eaten from the forbidden tree. Adam replies that the woman God gave him brought him the fruit and that he ate. When God asks the woman why she acted, she says that the serpent deceived her and that she ate.
God curses the serpent among cattle and beasts because of what it has done. It is to go upon its breast and eat earth throughout its life. God declares hostility between the serpent and the woman, and between its seed and hers: she will crush its head, while it waits for her heel. Challoner notes that some Fathers read the pronoun as referring to the woman, in agreement with the Latin, while others read it as referring to the seed. He explains the sense as the woman crushing the serpent’s head through her seed, Jesus Christ.
God tells the woman that he will multiply her sorrows and conceptions. She will bring forth children in sorrow. He also tells her that she will be under her husband’s power and that he will have dominion over her.
God tells Adam that the earth is cursed in his work because he listened to his wife and ate from the tree God had forbidden. Adam will eat through labour and toil throughout his life. The ground will produce thorns and thistles, and he will eat its herbs. He will eat bread by the sweat of his face until he returns to the earth from which he was taken. God tells him that he is dust and will return to dust.
Adam names his wife Eve because she is the mother of all the living. The Lord God makes garments of skins for Adam and his wife and clothes them.
God speaks of Adam becoming like one of us in knowing good and evil. Challoner explains this as a reproach of Adam’s pride in seeking knowledge that would make him like God. God prevents access to the tree of life and the possibility of eating and living forever. He sends Adam out of paradise to cultivate the earth from which he was taken. He places the guardians called Cherubims and a flaming sword turning in every direction before paradise to guard the way to the tree of life.
The story inside
The serpent’s promise and the recorded outcome give the chapter its central contrast. He denies the warning of death and promises knowledge that will make the couple like gods. Their eyes do open, but the next actions are making coverings and hiding. When questioned, each admits eating while pointing to someone else in the chain. God’s words then make the consequences explicit: sorrow, painful work, return to dust, and loss of access to the tree of life. Challoner explains both the loss of innocence and the reproach of Adam’s wish to be like God. The account’s promise of victory over the serpent must also be retained, with its Christ-centered explanation clearly attributed to the edition’s note.
Lessons worth keeping
- 1The serpent contradicts the warning the woman reports. She says eating and touching the forbidden fruit would expose them to death; he says they will not die and adds a promise of godlike knowledge. The deception changes the expected consequence before the fruit is eaten (3:1–6).
- 2The couple’s responses show the change after eating. They cover their nakedness and hide; Adam says he is afraid, and both admit eating when questioned. Challoner explains this as the loss of original grace and innocence, not newly acquired perfect knowledge of good (3:7–13).
- 3The judgment includes a promise concerning the serpent’s defeat. Verse 15 states hostility involving the woman and her seed and the crushing of the serpent’s head. Challoner explains that the woman crushes its head through her seed, Jesus Christ, while noting different readings of the pronoun (3:14–15).
Test your recall
How does the serpent change the expected outcome of eating, and which actions and judgments show the difference between that promise and what follows?
Show answer
The serpent denies that they will die and promises opened eyes and likeness to gods. After eating, they instead notice their nakedness, cover themselves, and hide from God in fear. God announces pain, toil, and a return to dust, as well as judgment on the serpent. The couple is sent out of the garden, and the way to the tree of life is guarded.
Quotes from Scripture
Exact Scripture quotations from the Douay–Rheims Bible, revised by Bishop Richard Challoner (1749–1752), the same edition used for these chapters. Source: Project Gutenberg no. 1581.
Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?
And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband, who did eat.
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return.
I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.
Source edition and notes
Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.
Lines 400–422
Genesis Chapter 3 The serpent’s craft. The fall of our first parents. Their punishment. The promise of a Redeemer. 3:1. Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman: Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise? 3:2. And the woman answered him, saying: Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat: 3:3. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die. 3:4. And the serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death. 3:5. For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil.
Lines 423–439
3:6. And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband, who did eat. 3:7. And the eyes of them both were opened: and when they perceived themselves to be naked, they sewed together fig leaves, and made themselves aprons. And the eyes, etc.... Not that they were blind before, (for the woman saw that the tree was fair to the eyes, ver. 6.) nor yet that their eyes were opened to any more perfect knowledge of good; but only to the unhappy experience of having lost the good of original grace and innocence, and incurred the dreadful evil of sin. From whence followed a shame of their being naked; which they minded not before; because being now stript of original grace, they quickly began to be subject to the shameful rebellions of the flesh.
Lines 440–458
3:8. And when they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in paradise at the afternoon air, Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of the Lord God, amidst the trees of paradise. 3:9. And the Lord God called Adam, and said to him: Where art thou? 3:10. And he said: I heard thy voice in paradise; and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself. 3:11. And he said to him: And who hath told thee that thou wast naked, but that thou hast eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat? 3:12. And Adam said: The woman, whom thou gavest me to be my companion, gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 3:13. And the Lord God said to the woman: Why hast thou done this? And she answered: The serpent deceived me, and I did eat.
Lines 459–472
3:14. And the Lord God said to the serpent: Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle, and beasts of the earth: upon thy breast shalt thou go, and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. 3:15. I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel. She shall crush.... Ipsa, the woman; so divers of the fathers read this place, conformably to the Latin: others read it ipsum, viz., the seed. The sense is the same: for it is by her seed, Jesus Christ, that the woman crushes the serpent’s head.
Lines 473–476
3:16. To the woman also he said: I will multiply thy sorrows, and thy conceptions: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thou shalt be under thy husband’s power, and he shall have dominion over thee.
Lines 477–488
3:17. And to Adam he said: Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee, that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work: with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life. 3:18. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herbs of the earth. 3:19. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return.
Lines 489–494
3:20. And Adam called the name of his wife Eve: because she was the mother of all the living. 3:21. And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife garments of skins, and clothed them.
Lines 495–509
3:22. And he said: Behold Adam is become as one of us, knowing good and evil: now therefore lest perhaps he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever. Behold Adam, etc.... This was spoken by way of reproaching him with his pride, in affecting a knowledge that might make him like to God. 3:23. And the Lord God sent him out of the paradise of pleasure, to till the earth from which he was taken. 3:24. And he cast out Adam: and placed before the paradise of pleasure Cherubims, and a flaming sword, turning every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.