Genesis Chapter 3, part 1: Translation

Thursday, 10 July 2008

My translation of Genesis 3:

And the Serpent was more cunning than all the animals of the field which YHWH Elohim had made. And he said to the Woman, “Did Elohim really say you both shall not eat from any tree in the Garden?"

The Woman said to the Serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the Garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the Tree in the midst of the Garden, Elohim said, 'You shall not eat from it and not touch it lest you will die.'

The Serpent said to the Woman, “You will not dying die. For Elohim knows that on a day you both will eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will become as Elohim, knowing good and bad.”

The Woman saw that the Tree was good for food, that it was lustful to the eyes, and the tree was desireable for gaining understanding. She took from it’s fruit, ate, and also gave to her Man with her, and he ate. The eyes of the two of them were opened, they knew that they were a naked, and they sewed fig leaves and made for themselves loincloths. And they heard the voice of YHWH Elohim walking in the Garden in the breeze of the day. And the Earthling hid himself and his Woman from the face of YHWH Elohim in the midst of the trees of the Garden.

YHWH Elohim called to the Earthling and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard Your voice in the Garden, and I was afraid because I am naked, so I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you are naked? From the tree which I commanded you not to eat...did you eat from it? The Earthling said, “The Woman which you gave me, she gave to me from the Tree and I ate.”

YHWH Elohim said to the Woman, “What is this you have done?” And the Woman said, “The Serpent tricked me, and I ate.”

YHWH Elohim said to the Serpent:

    “Because you did this,
            you are cursed more than all the beasts
                       and all the animals of the field.
    Upon your belly you will go
            and dust you will eat all the days of your life.
    Enmity I will put between you and the Woman,
            and between your seed and her seed,
    He will strike you head,
            and you will strike him heel."

To the Woman He said:

    “Increasing I will increase your painful grief and your conception,
         In painful grief you will bring forth sons,
   Towards your Man is your desire,
            and He will rule you.”

To the Earthling He said:

    “Because you listened to the voice of your Woman,
              and you have eaten from the Tree wich I commanded you, to say:
                ‘You shall not eat from it’
        Cursed is the earthen soil regarding your produce,
            in painful grief you will eat all the days of your life.
    Thorn and thistle will sprout for you
            and you will eat the plant of the field.”
    In the sweat of your face you will eat bread
            until your return to the earthen soil
                    for from it you were taken
    For dust are you
            and to dust you shall return.”

And Adam called the name of his Woman Eve, "Life", because she was the Mother of all the Living.

And YHWH Elohim made to Earthling and his Woman garments of skin and clothed them. And YHWH Elohim said, “See, the Earthling has become like one of us, knowing good and bad; and now he might stretch out his hand, take also from the Tree of Life and eat, and live forever.” And YHWH Elohim sent him from the Garden of Eden, to serve the earthen soil from where he was taken. He drove out the Earthling and placed east of the Garden of Eden cherubim and the flame of the turning sword to guard the path to the Tree of Life.