Genesis 3:5
in Genesis 3“For God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.
KJV
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
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This verse in Genesis 3
Commentary
15 notes on this verseYour eyes shall be opened - Your understanding shall be greatly enlightened and improved; and ye shall be as gods, כאלהים kelohim, like God, so the word should be translated; for what idea could our first parents have of gods before idolatry could have had any being, because sin had not yet entered into the world? The Syriac has the word in the singular number, and is the only one of all the versions which has hit on the true meaning.
This site's exposition
You will not surely die
on Genesis 3:4-5
The serpent contradicts God flatly. He tells the woman why God gave the command, and the promise is opened eyes and a likeness to God in knowing good and evil. Jesus names this speaker the father of lies at John 8:44.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
And indeed pride, although it be in itself a great sin, is of such sort in itself alone apart from others, that it for the most part follows after and steals with more rapid foot, not so much upon sins as upon things which are actually well done. However, that which he has understood in another sense, is after all most truly said: "Pride is the commencement of all sin;" because it was this which overthrew the devil, from whom arose the origin of sin; and afterwards, when his malice and envy pursued man, who was yet standing in his uprightness, it subverted him in the same way in which he himself fell. For the serpent, in fact, only sought for the door of pride whereby to enter when he said, "Ye shall be as gods." Truly then is it said, "Pride is the commencement of all sin;" and, "The beginning of pride is when a man departeth from God."
The conclusion is that the devil would not have begun by an open and obvious sin to tempt man into doing something that God had forbidden, had not man already begun to seek satisfaction in himself and consequently to take pleasure in the words "you shall be as gods." The promise of these words, however, would much more truly have to pass if, by obedience, Adam and Eve had kept close to the ultimate and true source of their being and had not, by pride, imagined that they were themselves the source of their being.… Whoever seeks to be more than he is becomes less. Whenever he aspires to be self-sufficing, he retreats from the One who is truly sufficient for him.
Now the tempter's words would not have caused the tempted pair to sin had not their greed abetted the tempter. And even if the tempter had not come, the Tree with all its beauty would have caused them a struggle with their greed.
A commentator
Philo of Alexandria-20–50
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON GENESIS, I · Written before 50.
proposed
(36) What is the meaning of the expression, "Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil?" (#Ge 3:5). Whence was it that the serpent found the plural word "gods," when there is only one true God, and when this is the first time that …
Do you see how the devil led her captive, handicapped her reasoning and caused her to set her thoughts on goals beyond her real capabilities, in order that she might be puffed up with empty hopes and lose her hold on the advantages already accorded her?
8 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church5 voices
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 1 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
The reasoning of the devil leads to hell: it is a fallacy, a sophistic and destructive reasoning. For the devil deceived the first man and assumed the existence in the heart of man of a kind of self-evident proposition such as this: the rational creature …
A commentator
Bernard of ClairvauxSermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 69 · Written before 1153.
proposed
Both meditated iniquity, affecting height: the one, of power; the other, of knowledge. For the foolish woman believed him who promised, but who was deceiving: "You shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."
Third, the devil promised: You shall be as gods, knowing good and evil, so that he might lead the concupiscible power into desire, and thus by these three modes might draw the freedom of choice to consent, which faculty belongs to reason and will, embracing …
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 19 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
One should consider with fear what Job says of Behemoth-Leviathan: "He shall strew gold under him like mire." Through knowledge, temptation easily leads to ruin. "You will be like God, knowing good and evil."
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Septem Donis, Collation 4 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Adam with his wife contracted the vice of curiosity, when the devil said to them: "You shall be as gods, knowing good and evil": he also contracted the vice of carnality, when he ate of the fruit: he also contracted the vice of vanity, when …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
For God doth know,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
your eyes shall be opened--His words meant more than met the ear. In one sense her eyes were opened; for she acquired a direful experience of "good and evil"--of the happiness of a holy, and the misery of a sinful, condition.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Modern Voices1 voice
To us light must be henceforward the dark thing—the thing of which we cannot speak. To us, as to Milton's devils in Pandemonium, it is darkness that is visible.
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֚י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יֹדֵ֣עַ | yodea' | [is] knowing | H3045 → | 945 times |
| אֱלֹהִ֔ים | ʾelohim | God | H430 → | 2601 times |
| כִּ֗י | ki | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| בְּיוֹם֙ | beyom | on [the] day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| אֲכָלְכֶ֣ם | ʾakhalkhem | eat you | H398 → | 810 times |
| מִמֶּ֔נּוּ | mimenu | from it | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| וְנִפְקְח֖וּ | venifkechu | and they will be opened | H6491 → | 20 times |
| עֵֽינֵיכֶ֑ם | ʾeineikhem | eyes your | H5869 → | 887 times |
| וִהְיִיתֶם֙ | vihyitem | and you will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| כֵּֽאלֹהִ֔ים | kelohim | like God | H430 → | 2601 times |
| יֹדְעֵ֖י | yodeei | [those who] know | H3045 → | 945 times |
| ט֥וֹב | tov | <of> good | H2896 → | 538 times |
| וָרָֽע׃ | vara' | and evil | H7451 → | 662 times |
כִּ֚יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
יֹדֵ֣עַ[is] knowing
yodea'H3045 →945 times
אֱלֹהִ֔יםGod
ʾelohimH430 →2601 times
כִּ֗יthat
kiH3588 →4482 times
בְּיוֹם֙on [the] day
beyomH3117 →2304 times
אֲכָלְכֶ֣םeat you
ʾakhalkhemH398 →810 times
מִמֶּ֔נּוּfrom it
mimenuH4480 →1188 times
וְנִפְקְח֖וּand they will be opened
venifkechuH6491 →20 times
עֵֽינֵיכֶ֑םeyes your
ʾeineikhemH5869 →887 times
וִהְיִיתֶם֙and you will be
vihyitemH1961 →3559 times
כֵּֽאלֹהִ֔יםlike God
kelohimH430 →2601 times
יֹדְעֵ֖י[those who] know
yodeeiH3045 →945 times
ט֥וֹב<of> good
tovH2896 →538 times
וָרָֽע׃and evil
vara'H7451 →662 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
2 Corinthians 4:4The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
it leads to
- John 12:40
“He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they cannot see with their eyes, and understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.”
- 2 Corinthians 3:14
But their minds were closed. For to this day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant. It has not been lifted, because only in Christ can it be removed.
- Acts 26:18
to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified…
- Isaiah 6:10
Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
- 1 John 5:19
We know that we are of God, and that the whole world is under the power of the evil one.
- John 12:40
Through
Genesis 2:17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”
it leads to
- Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- James 1:15
Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
- Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
- Romans 6:23
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies25
On this chapter
- Adam to Noah
- Angelology
- Bread
- Cain and Abel: Genesis 4
- The Covenants
- Creation to New Creation
- Eden
- Eve: The Mother of All Living
- Heaven
- The New Jerusalem
- Satan
- The Names of Satan
- Satan Across the Testaments
- The Scarlet Thread
- The Seed Promise
- The Canaanite Conquest
- The Garment & the Robe
- The Groaning Creation
- The Seed
- The Sword
- The Tree
- The Woman and the Dragon
- The Throne Room
About Genesis
This page draws on 15 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, On Nature and Grace; Augustine of Hippo, City of God 14.13; Bernard of Clairvaux, Sermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 69; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 1; Bonaventure, Breviloquium, Part 3, Chapter 2; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 19; Bonaventure, Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 4; Ephrem the Syrian, Commentary (church-history corpus); GK Chesterton, Heretics, Ch. 2: On the Negative Spirit (1905); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 16.11; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Philo of Alexandria, QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON GENESIS, I.