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Genesis 3:2

in Genesis 3

The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden,

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the woman said unto the serpent, Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat:

KJV

And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

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This verse in Genesis 3

Commentary

9 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

But there is reason to think that she had already received an injurious impression; for in using the words "lest ye die," instead of "ye shall surely die" [Ge 2:17], she spoke as if the tree had been forbidden because of some poisonous quality of its fruit.

This site's exposition

more crafty than any beast of the field

on Genesis 3:1-3

The serpent's first words are a question about what God said, and he widens the one command of Genesis 2:16 and 17 into a ban on every tree in the garden. The woman answers by adding to it, that they must not touch it either. Jesus met that attack in the wilderness with what is written.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers4 voices

A commentator

Philo of Alexandria

-20–50

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON GENESIS, I · Written before 50.

proposed

(32) Did the serpent speak with a human voice? [Gen 3:2] In the first place, it may be the fact that at the beginning of the world even the other animals besides man were not entirely destitute of the power of articulate speech, but only …

A commentator

Philo of Alexandria

-20–50

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON GENESIS, I · Written before 50.

proposed

(33) Why did the serpent accost the woman, and not the man? [Gen 3:2] The serpent, having formed his estimate of virtue, devised a treacherous stratagem against them, for the sake of bringing mortality on them. But the woman was more accustomed to be deceived …

A commentator

Ephrem the Syrian

HYMNS ON PARADISE 3.4-5 · Written before 373.

proposed

The serpent could not enter paradise, for neither animal nor bird was permitted to approach the outer region of paradise, and Adam had to go out to meet them; so the serpent cunningly learned, through questioning Eve, the character of paradise, what it was and …

A commentator

John Chrysostom

Commentary (church-history corpus) · Written in the 5th century.

proposed

Let us, however, listen to what she says to him in reply. That is, when he said, "'Why is it that God said, Do not eat of any tree of the garden?'" the woman replied to the serpent, "'We do eat of every tree of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, Do not eat or even touch it in case you die.'" [ Gen 3:2, Gen 3:3 ] Do you see his malice? He said what was not the case so as to entice her into conversation with him and thus learn what was the case. The woman, you see, is evidently encouraged as though he were kindly disposed to her, and she reveals the whole of the instruction, tells him all in detail, and by her reply deprives herself of any excuse. I mean, what could you say in your defense, woman? "God said, Do not eat of any tree in the garden." You ought to have turned away from the speaker and said to him, Be off, you are a cheat, you do not know the force of the direction given us, nor the extent of the enjoyment we have, nor the abundance of good things given us. For your part you said God has told us to taste nothing of any tree, whereas out of his great goodness the Lord and Creator has permitted us enjoyment and control of them all, bidding us keep away only from one, and this likewise out of great care for us lest we taste it and die.

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron) · Written before 735.

proposed

He then said to the woman: "Did God really command you not to eat from any tree in the Garden?" To which the woman replied: "We may eat the fruit of the trees in the garden, but from the fruit of the tree which is …
2 more voices on this verse

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

It is forbidden in the highest degree, and the authority of the prohibition is sacred to us." [4.] She seems a little to waver about the threatening, and is not so particular and faithful in the repetition of that as of the precept.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes

And the woman said unto the serpent,....

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

Some say that the woman understood and knew the language of the animals.
Ibn Ezra: Spain, 1089–1167 · Ibn Ezra on Genesis 3:1:1, via Sefaria, Ibn Ezra's commentary on the Pentateuch, tran. and annot. by H. Norman Strickman and Arthur M. Silver. Menorah Pub., 1988-2004

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 2 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

8 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַתֹּ֥אמֶרand she said

    vatomerH559 →5305 times

  • הָֽאִשָּׁ֖הthe woman

    haishahH802 →781 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • הַנָּחָ֑שׁthe snake

    hanachashH5175 →31 times

  • מִפְּרִ֥יfrom [the] fruit of

    miperiH6529 →119 times

  • עֵֽץ־[the] tree[s] of

    ʾetz-H6086 →328 times

  • הַגָּ֖ןthe garden

    haganH1588 →42 times

  • נֹאכֵֽל׃we will eat

    nokhelH398 →810 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

1 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Psalms 58:4Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like a cobra that shuts its ears,1 works

The walk

5 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Psalms 58:4

    Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like a cobra that shuts its ears,

    it leads to

    • James 3:8

      but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

    • Psalms 140:3

      They sharpen their tongues like snakes; the venom of vipers is on their lips. Selah

    • Romans 3:13

      “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The venom of vipers is on their lips.”

    • Ecclesiastes 10:11

      If the snake bites before it is charmed, there is no profit for the charmer.

    • Jeremiah 8:17

      “For behold, I will send snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you,” declares the LORD.

Where this verse is studied

About Genesis

Adam and Eve Are Driven out of Eden — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Adam and Eve Are Driven out of Eden — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
Genesis: the study guide →Read Genesis 3 →

This page draws on Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron); Ephrem the Syrian, HYMNS ON PARADISE 3.4-5; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on Genesis; John Chrysostom, Commentary (church-history corpus); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Philo of Alexandria, QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON GENESIS, I.

Read on in Genesis 3 →