Then Jehovah made the man fall into a deep sleep; and while he slept, he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. The rib which he had taken from the man, Jehovah made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, "Because she was made from my body, she shall be called Woman."
The First Disobedience
Now the serpent was more deceitful than any other animal that Jehovah had made; and it said to the woman, "Has God really said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" The woman answered, "We may eat of the fruit of all the trees of the garden except the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, for God has said, 'You shall not eat from it, nor shall you touch it; for if you do, you shall die.'" Then the serpent said to the woman, "You shall not surely die; for God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will know what is good and what is evil."
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, beautiful to look at and that it would make her wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, so that they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together and made girdles for themselves. When they heard the sound of the footsteps of Jehovah, as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, the man and his wife hid from him among the trees of the garden.
And Jehovah called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" and he answered, "I heard the sound of thy footsteps in the garden and I was afraid, because I was naked; so I hid myself." Jehovah said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I forbade you to eat?" The man answered, "The woman whom thou didst give to me—she gave me fruit from the tree and I ate." Jehovah said to the woman, "What is this that you have done?" The woman replied, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
Then Jehovah said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, you shall be hated more than all beasts. You shall crawl on your belly and eat dust all your life, and men and serpents shall always be enemies. They shall bruise your head, and you shall wound them on the heel."
To the woman he said, "I will greatly increase your trouble and your pain, and you shall be subject to your husband, and he shall rule over you."
But to the man he said, "Because you have listened to your wife and have eaten of the tree from which I forbade you to eat, as long as you live you shall earn a living only by hard work. By hard work shall you raise food to eat. And you shall die and your body go back to the ground, for from dust you were made, and to dust you shall return!"
And Jehovah made garments of skins for the man and his wife, and clothed them. And he sent them out of the garden of Eden to till the ground.
Cain and His Brother Abel
Adam named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living beings. She had two sons, Cain and Abel. Abel was a shepherd, but Cain was a farmer.
One day Cain brought, as an offering to Jehovah, some fruit and grain that he had grown. Abel, too, brought some of the best animals of his flock and sacrificed their fat pieces to Jehovah. Jehovah was pleased with Abel and his offering, but Cain and his offering did not please him.
This made Cain very angry and his face showed it. So Jehovah said to Cain, "Why are you angry and why do you scowl? If you do what is right and good, will not your offering be accepted? But if you do wrong, sin crouches like a wild beast at the door and the desire to sin will overcome you; but you should master it."
Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let us go into the field." And while they were in the field, Cain struck his brother Abel and killed him.
When Jehovah said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" Cain answered, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" Jehovah said, "What have you done? Hark! your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground. Even now you are condemned by the very ground that has opened to receive your brother's blood from your hand. Whenever you till the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength; you shall be a tramp and a wanderer on the earth."
Then Cain said to Jehovah, "My punishment is more than I can bear. See, thou hast driven me out to-day from this land, and I shall no longer be able to worship thee; I shall become a tramp and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."
But Jehovah said to him, "If any one kills you, he shall be punished sevenfold." So Jehovah placed a mark on Cain, to keep any one who found him from killing him. And Cain went out from Jehovah's presence and lived as a wanderer, away from Eden.
Noah and the Great Flood
When Jehovah saw that men were growing more wicked in the world and that their thoughts were always evil, he was greatly grieved and regretted that he had made man. Therefore, Jehovah said, "I will completely destroy all living beings from off the earth, for I regret that I have made them."
But Noah had won Jehovah's favor. So Jehovah said to Noah, "I have decided to put an end to all living beings, for the earth is filled with their wicked acts. I am going to destroy them from the earth. Make yourself an ark of cypress wood. Build rooms in the ark, and cover it within and without with pitch. This is how you shall build it: the ark shall be five hundred feet long, eighty feet wide, and fifty feet high. Make a roof for it and place the door on the side. Build it with lower, second, and third stories. For I am about to bring floods of water upon the earth to destroy every living creature in which is the breath of life. Every creature that is on the earth shall die."
Then Jehovah said to Noah, "Enter with all your household into the ark, for I see that of all the people who are now alive you alone are upright. Of all the beasts that are fit for food and sacrifice you shall take with you seven, the male and the female; but of the beasts that are not fit for food and sacrifice two, the male and the female; and of the wild birds that are fit for food and sacrifice seven, to keep each kind alive on all the earth. After seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights; and I will destroy every living thing that I have made."
Then Noah did all that Jehovah commanded him. When the waters of the flood came upon the earth, he, his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives, together with the beasts that were fit for food and sacrifice and the beasts that were not fit, and the birds, and everything that creeps upon the ground, entered the ark because of the waters of the flood.
The rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and Jehovah shut Noah in the ark. And the waters rose higher and higher and raised up the ark, and it was lifted high above the earth. All creatures living on the land died. Noah only was left and they who were with him in the ark.
Then God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God caused a wind to blow over the earth, and the flood went down, the rain from heaven ceased, and the waters withdrew more and more from the land.
After forty days Noah opened the window of the ark and sent out a raven; and it kept going to and fro until the waters were dried up on the earth. He also sent out a dove to see if the waters had gone from the surface of the earth. But the dove found no rest for her foot, and so returned to him to the ark, for the waters covered the whole earth. Therefore, Noah reached out his hand and took her and brought her back into the ark.
Then he waited seven days longer and again sent out the dove from the ark. And the dove came in to him at dusk; and in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive-leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had gone from the earth. And he waited seven days more and again sent out the dove, but it did not return to him.