Genesis 3:12 - Printer Friendly

ESV: The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate."

NIV: The man said, "The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it."

NASB: The man said, 'The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me some of the fruit of the tree, and I ate.'

CSB: The man replied, "The woman you gave to be with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate."

NLT: The man replied, 'It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.'

KJV: And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

NKJV: Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”

Adam and Eve have introduced human sin into the world. They gave into temptation; they disobeyed God. The wisdom of knowing good and evil that they hoped to discover turned out to be a gift of shame and separation. They came to know evil by participating in it. In the previous verse, God asked Adam directly, "Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?"

In Adam's response, we see the next consequence of human sin. The first was overwhelming shame. The second was a deep desire to get away from the Creator. Now we see that their choice to sin together will drive a wedge into Adam's and Eve's relationship to each other.

In short, faced with his own guilt, Adam looks for someone else to blame. This has been human instinct ever since. In one skillful sentence, he points the finger at both his wife and God: "The woman [blaming her], whom you [blaming God] gave to be with me" did this.

The implication of Adam's words is an accusation. If is as if he is implying, "You're actually to blame, because you made her, God. There's something wrong with her. Yes, I went along, but I never would have done this if she hadn't gone first. The whole thing should be between you and her."

This is an ugly, embarrassing moment, but we should all understand it. Learning to take responsibility for our own sin does not come naturally.

Genesis 3:8–24 describes the consequences of man's rebellion against God. After falling to temptation, humans are ashamed and foolishly attempt to hide from God. When confronted with their sin, the man and woman confess, but also attempt to shift the blame to others. Adam even blames God. In response, God issues three individual ''curses'' which affect humanity to this day. Mankind can no longer stay in the ''very good'' garden, and is banished. Even so, God continues to provide for His creation.

Genesis 3 tells the story of paradise lost by the willfulness of human sin. Humanity was originally given every perfect thing they could need or want, and virtually no restrictions. Despite that, Adam and Eve needed only a bit of prompting from a talking serpent to disobey their good Creator. Immediately overcome by shame and quickly cursed by God, the painful story of human history begins with their exit from the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 2 ended with the last glimpse of a sinless world. Adam and Eve are perfect in themselves, in their purpose, and in their relationship as husband and wife. Chapter 3 tells the story of that paradise lost; the result of the first willful human sin. The consequences: immediate shame and lifelong separation from their home with God. Chapter 4 will describe the beginning of their lives together, the beginning of the painful story of human history.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.