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eat from the tree from which I instructed you never to eat?”

      12 Then the man replied, “The woman that you gave me, she gave it to me off of the tree, and I ate it.”

      13 So the Lord God said to the woman, “What did you do?” The woman answered, “The snake misled me, and so I ate it.”

      14 The Lord God then spoke to the snake, “Because you did this, you are cursed above and beyond any other creature and animal of the field. You will crawl on your stomach, and you will eat dust for your entire life.

      15 I have also decreed that hostility will exist between you and the woman, and between your descendants and hers; (her descendant) will crush your head, but you will nip at his heels.”

      16 He then said to the woman, “I will greatly increase your suffering in childbirth; in pain you will bear children, and you will desire your husband. He will have authority over you, to protect you.”

      17 He said to the man, “Because you took your wife’s advice and you ate from the tree that I instructed you about, saying that you should not eat from it, the ground will be cursed because of you. During your entire lifetime, you will eat the ground’s produce only through hard work.

      18 Therefore, you will find thorns and thistles growing (from the ground), and you will eat the vegetation of the field.

      19 By the sweat of your eyebrows you will eat bread till the day you die. Because you were made from dust, you will return to dust.”

20 The man named his wife “Chava” because she was the mother of all human life.4

      21 Then the Lord God made animal skin clothing for the man and his wife, to dress them.

22 The Lord God said, “The man is like one of us, knowing good from evil. So in order that he doesn’t try to take anything from the tree of life and eat it, then live forever . . .”5

      23 the Lord God exiled him from the garden of delight, so that he would farm the very ground from which he was created.

24 And so He expelled the man. Then winged beings were stationed in front of the garden of delight, along with the rotating, flaming sword that guarded the way to the tree of life.6

1. vv. 1–4: When God told the man and woman that they would die, it is clear that He didn’t mean an immediate death. The Targum Yonatan translates 2.17 as: “For on the day in which you eat of it, you shall be guilty of death.” As Rabbi Shlomo Riskin has noted: “. . .that is, judged worthy of death, but not necessarily suffer an immediate execution” (Riskin, “There is Still Time”). Physical death became the eventual fate of these first two humans, as well as the fate of their descendants.

2. v. 6: Bereshit Rabbah identified this tree as a fig tree, based on the fact that the leaves that were sewn together by the man and woman were fig leaves. Other rabbi-commentators have made various conjectures as to the identity of the fruit, including grapes, wheat (!), and apples. See Rabbi Yose’s comment in Bereshit Rabbah to Genesis 15:7.

3. v. 7: “Coverings” describes the function of these leaves; the Hebrew word hagorot may refer to a belt or midsection undergarment, possibly a type of wrap.

4. v. 20: The name Chava is connected to the word “life” (chay) in Hebrew.

5. v. 22: The Ramban notes that when the Messiah comes, men will choose to do good instead of evil. He writes that the desire to do evil is the outcome of Adam and Eve’s eating of the forbidden fruit: “But during the days of the Messiah, the selection between good and evil will be instinctive for them (mankind). Their hearts will not crave that which is not fit. They will not desire it at all” (Singer, Ramban, 31).

6. v. 24: These “winged beings” are called cherubim in Hebrew. They are a type of angelic creature that are written about in Exodus 25.19 and 37.8, as well as some eleven times in the book of Ezekiel. Here their function is to serve as guards in the garden. The sword’s motion is described in Hebrew as “mithapeket.” This could refer to a circular type of movement (“revolving,” as I translate it here), or to a dipping and “flipping over” motion. This word refers to a rotational movement. Whatever the motion itself entailed, it is clear that the sword’s purpose was to restrict or prevent entry. Who would see the sword and be discouraged to enter the garden? This must be intended to keep the man and his wife (and possibly future descendants) from trying to return there.

      Chapter 4

1 The man had sexual relations with Chava, his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. So she said, “I have gotten a child from the Lord.”1

2 And again she gave birth, to his brother, Hevel, who became a shepherd. Cain was a farmer.2

      3 After a passage of some time, Cain brought some ground produce as an offering to God.

      4 Also Hevel brought of the first-born animals from his flock and from their fat produce. And God favored Hevel and his offering.

      5 But God did not particularly favor Cain and his offering. So Cain was very angry, and he carried a sad facial expression.

      6 So God told Cain, “Why are you so upset? Why do you look so down?

7 Don’t you know that if you do what is right, you will live correctly before Me? But if you don’t do what is right, you will miss the mark and desire to do what is wrong. So you must control your actions.”3

8 Afterwards, Cain argued with his brother Hevel when they were together in a field. Cain became angry at Hevel, and so he murdered him.4

9 God then asked Cain, “Where is Hevel your brother?” Then he (Cain) answered, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s guardian?”5

      10 Then God said, “What did you do? Your brother’s blood cries out loudly to me from the ground!

      11 Because the ground has absorbed your brother’s blood that you shed, you have brought curses upon yourself!

      12 When you farm the ground, it will not be fruitful and yield crops for you. Instead, you will now be a nomad and wanderer throughout the earth.”

      13 Then Cain complained to God, “This is too harsh of a punishment for me to bear!

      14 Today you banished me from everyone’s presence, as well as from Your presence. I will be a nomad and wanderer upon the earth, and everyone who sees me will try to kill me.”

      15 God then said to him, “So anyone who tries to kill Cain will suffer curses seven-fold . . . and God will put on Cain a sign so that all who find him will know not to attack him.”

      16 So Cain had to leave God’s presence, and he settled in the region of Nod, just east of Eden.

      17 Afterward, Cain had intimate relations with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Hanoch. [Cain] then built a town and named it Hanoch, after

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