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Now the serpent was more crafty than any other
wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman,
"Did God say, "You shall not eat from any tree in the
garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the
fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, "You shall not
eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor
shall you touch it, or you shall die.'" But the serpent said to
the woman, "You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of
it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good
and evil." So when 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 of its fruit and ate; and she
also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the
eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and
they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in
the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his
wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees
of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, and said to him,
"Where are you?" He said, "I heard the sound of you in
the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid
myself." He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have
you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"
The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave
me fruit from the tree, and I ate." Then the LORD God said to
the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman
said, "The serpent tricked me, and I ate." The LORD God
said to the serpent,
"Because you have done this,
cursed are you among all animals
and among all wild creatures;
upon your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will strike your head,
and you will strike his heel."
To the woman he said,
"I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children,
yet your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you."
And to the man he said,
"Because you have listened to the voice of
your wife,
and have eaten of the tree
about which I commanded you,
'You shall not eat of it,'
cursed is the ground because of you;
in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread
until you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
you are dust,
and to dust you shall return."
The man named his wife Eve, because she was the
mother of all living. And the LORD God made garments of skins for the
man and for his wife, and clothed them.
Then the LORD God said, "See, the man has
become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach
out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live
forever" — therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the
garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. He drove
out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the
cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the
tree of life.
Genesis 4
See, the LORD's hand is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.
Rather, your iniquities have been barriers
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.
For your hands are defiled with blood,
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies,
your tongue mutters wickedness.
No one brings suit justly,
no one goes to law honestly;
they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,
conceiving mischief and begetting iniquity.
They hatch adders' eggs,
and weave the spider's web;
whoever eats their eggs dies,
and the crushed egg hatches out a viper.
Their webs cannot serve as clothing;
they cannot cover themselves with what they make.
Their works are works of iniquity,
and deeds of violence are in their hands.
Their feet run to evil,
and they rush to shed innocent blood;
their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity,
desolation and destruction are in their highways.
The way of peace they do not know,
and there is no justice in their paths.
Their roads they have made crooked;
no one who walks in them knows peace.
Therefore justice is far from us,
and righteousness does not reach us;
we wait for light, and lo! there is darkness;
and for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
We grope like the blind along a wall,
groping like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
among the vigorous as though we were dead.
We all growl like bears;
like doves we moan mournfully.
We wait for justice, but there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.
For our transgressions before you are many,
and our sins testify against us.
Our transgressions indeed are with us,
and we know our iniquities:
transgressing, and denying the LORD,
and turning away from following our God,
talking oppression and revolt,
conceiving lying words and uttering them from
the heart.
Justice is turned back,
and righteousness stands at a distance;
for truth stumbles in the public square,
and uprightness cannot enter.
Truth is lacking,
and whoever turns from evil is despoiled.
Isaiah 59:1-15
What then? Are we any better off? No, not at
all; for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are
under the power of sin, as it is written:
"There is no one who is righteous, not even one;
there is no one who has understanding, there is
no one who seeks God.
All have turned aside, together they have become worthless;
there is no one who shows kindness,there is not
even one."
"Their throats are opened graves;
they use their tongues to deceive."
"The venom of vipers is under their lips."
"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."
"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
ruin and misery are in their paths,
and the way of peace they have not known."
"There is no fear of God before their eyes."
Now we know that whatever the law says, it
speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be
silenced, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For
"no human being will be justified in his sight" by deeds
prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
Romans 3:9-20
Therefore, just as sin came into the world
through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to
all because all have sinned — sin was indeed in the world before
the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. Yet death
exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins
were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who
was to come.
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For
if the many died through the one man's trespass, much more surely
have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man,
Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. And the free gift is not like
the effect of the one man's sin. For the judgment following one
trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many
trespasses brings justification. If, because of the one man's
trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely
will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of
righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
Therefore just as one man's trespass led to
condemnation for all, so one man's act of righteousness leads to
justification and life for all. For just as by the one man's
disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's
obedience the many will be made righteous. But law came in, with the
result that the trespass multiplied; but where sin increased, grace
abounded all the more, so that, just as sin exercised dominion in
death, so grace might also exercise dominion through justification
leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 5:12-21
Surely there is no one on earth so righteous as
to do good without ever sinning.
Ecclesiastes 7:20
For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am
of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. I do not understand my own
actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.
Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. But in
fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. For
I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I
can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good
I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what I
do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.
So I find it to be a law that when I want to do
what is good, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of
God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war
with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that
dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from
this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of
God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.
Romans 7:14-25
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