3Now athe serpent was morecraftythananybeast of the fieldwhichYahwehGod had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has Godsaid, ‘1You shall not eat from 2anytree of the garden’?” 2And the womansaid to the serpent, “aFrom the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3but from the fruit of the treewhich is in the midst of the garden, Godsaid, ‘You shall not eat from it, and you shall not touch it, lest you die.’” 4aAnd the serpentsaid to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5“For Godknows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and ayou will be like God, knowinggood and evil.” 6aThen the womansaw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to makeonewise, so she took from its fruit and ate; and she gavealso to her husband with her, and he ate. 7And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they aknew that they were naked; and they sewedfigleavestogether and madethemselves1loincoverings.
8Then they heard the sound of aYahwehGodwalking in the garden in the 1cool of the day, band the man and his wifehid themselves from the presence of YahwehGod in the midst of the trees of the garden. 9YahwehGodcalled to the man and said to him, “aWhere are you?” 10And he said, “aI heard the sound of You in the garden, and I wasafraidbecause I was naked; so I hid.” 11And He said, “Whotold you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12aAnd the mansaid, “The womanwhom You gaveto be with me, she gave to me from the tree, and I ate.” 13Then YahwehGodsaid to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the womansaid, “aThe serpentdeceived me, and I ate.” 14And YahwehGodsaid to the serpent, “aBecause you have donethis,Cursed are you morethanany of the cattle,And morethaneverybeast of the field;On your belly you will go,And bdust you will eatAll the days of your life;
15And I will putaenmityBetween you and the woman,And between your seed and her seed;bHe shall 1bruise you on the head,And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
16To the woman He said, “I will greatlymultiplyYour pain and 1conception,In pain you will 2,abearchildren;Your desire will be for your husband,And bhe will rule over you.”
17Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; aCursed is the groundbecause of you;bIn 1pain you will eat of itAll the days of your life.
18“Both thorns and thistles it shall agrow for you;And you will eat the 1plants of the field;19By the sweat of your 1faceYou will eatbread,Till you areturn to the ground,Becausebfrom it you were taken;For you are dust,And to dust you shall return.”
20Now the mancalled his wife’sname1,aEve, because she was the mother of alltheliving. 21Then YahwehGodmadegarments of skin for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them.
22Then YahwehGodsaid, “Behold, the man has become like one of aUs 1to knowgood and evil; and now, lest he send forth his hand and takealso from bthe tree of life and eat and liveforever”— 23therefore YahwehGodsent him out from the garden of Eden, to 1cultivate the ground from which he was taken. 24So aHe drove the manout; and at the beast of the garden of Eden He stationed the ccherubim and the flamingsword which turned every direction to 1guard the way to dthe tree of life.
Cain and Abel
4Now the man1knew his wifeEve, and she conceived and 2gavebirth to 3Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a 4man with the help ofYahweh.” 2And again, she 1gavebirth to his brotherAbel. aAbel was ba keeper of flocks, but Cain was a cultivator of the ground. 3So it happened1in the course of time that Cainbrought an offering to Yahweh of the fruit of the ground. 4aAbel, on his part, alsobrought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fatportions. And bYahwehhadregard for Abel and for his offering; 5but afor Cain and for his offering He hadnoregard. So bCainbecameveryangry, and his countenancefell. 6Then Yahwehsaid to Cain, “aWhyare you angry? And why has your countenancefallen? 7“aIf you dowell, 1will not your countenance be lifted up? bAnd if you do not dowell, sin is lying at the door; and its desire is for you, cbut you must rule over it.” 8Then Cain1spoke to Abel his brother; and it happened when they were in the field, that CainroseupagainstAbel his brother and akilled him.
9Then Yahwehsaid to Cain, “aWhere is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’skeeper?” 10And He said, “What have you done? aThe voice of your brother’sblood is cryingout to Me from the ground. 11“And now, acursed are you from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’sblood from your hand. 12“aWhen you cultivate the ground, it will nolongeryield its strength to you; byou will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.” 13And Cainsaid to Yahweh, “My punishment is toogreat to bear! 14“Behold, You have adriven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden, and bI will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and it will be that cwhoeverfinds me will kill me.” 15So Yahwehsaid to him, “ThereforewhoeverkillsCain, vengeance will be taken on him asevenfold.” And Yahweh1,bappointed a sign for Cain, so that noone who found him would strike him.
16Then Cainwentout from the presenceaof Yahweh and 1settled in the land of 2Nod, east of Eden.
17Then Cain1knew his wife, and she conceived and 2gavebirth to Enoch; and he built a city and called the name of the cityEnoch, after the name of his son. 18Now to Enoch was bornIrad, and Irad1was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael2was the father of Methushael, and Methushael3was the father of Lamech. 19And Lamechtook for himself atwowives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah. 20And Adah1gavebirth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and havelivestock. 21And his brother’sname was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. 22As for Zillah, she also1gavebirth to Tubal-cain, the forger of allimplements of bronze and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.
23And Lamechsaid to his wives, “Adah and Zillah,Hear my voice,You wives of Lamech,Giveear to my word,aFor I 1have killed a man for 2striking me;And a boy for wounding me;
24IfCain is avengedasevenfold,Then Lamechseventy-sevenfold.”
25aThen Adam1knew his wifeagain; and she 2gavebirth to a son and named him 3Seth, for she said, “God4has set for me another5seedinplaceofAbel, bfor Cainkilled him.” 26And to Seth, to him also, aa son was born; and he called his nameEnosh. Thenmenbeganbto call1upon the name of Yahweh.
Matthew 3-4:11
The Preaching of John the Baptist
3Nowain thosedays1,bJohn the Baptist *2came, 3preaching in the cwilderness of Judea, saying, 2“aRepent, for bthe kingdom of heaven1isathand.” 3For this is the aone referred to 1by Isaiah the prophet, saying, “bThe voice of one2crying in the wilderness,‘cMakeready the way of the3Lord,Make His pathsstraight!’”
4NowJohnhimselfhad1,aa garment of camel’shair and a leatherbeltaround his waist; and his food was blocusts and wildhoney. 5ThenJerusalemawas goingout to him, and allJudea, and allbthe districtaround the Jordan; 6and they were being abaptized by him in the JordanRiver, as they confessed their sins.
7But when he sawmany of the aPharisees and bSadduceescoming for hisbaptism, he said to them, “You cbrood of vipers, whowarned you to flee from dthe wrathtocome? 8“aThereforebearfruitbin keeping with repentance; 9and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘aWe haveAbraham for our father’; for I say to you that from thesestonesGod is able to raiseupchildren to Abraham. 10“And the aaxe is alreadylaid at the root of the trees; thereforebeverytree that does not beargoodfruit is cutdown and thrown into the fire.
11“As for me, aI baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is comingafter me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; bHe will baptize you with the HolySpirit and fire. 12“His awinnowingfork is in His hand, and He will thoroughlyclear His threshingfloor; and He will bgather His wheat into the barn, but He will burnup the cchaff with dunquenchablefire.”
The Baptism of Jesus
13aThenJesus*arrivedbfrom Galilee at the Jordancoming to John to be baptized by him. 14But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I haveneed to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” 15But Jesusanswered and said to him, “Permitit at thistime; for in thisway it is fitting for us ato fulfillallrighteousness.”Then he *permitted Him. 16And after being baptized, Jesuscameupimmediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and 1,ahe saw the Spirit of Goddescending like a doveandcoming upon Him, 17and behold, there was a voice out of the heavenssaying, “aThis is 1My belovedSon, in whom I amwell-pleased.”
The Temptation of Jesus
4aThenJesus was ledup by the Spirit into the wildernessbto be tempted by the devil. 2And after He had afastedfortydays and fortynights, He 1then became hungry. 3And athe temptercame and said to Him, “If You are the bSon of God, command that thesestonesbecomebread.” 4But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘aMan shall not live on breadalone, but on everywordthat proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”
5Then the devil*took Him into athe holycity and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, 6and *said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throwYourselfdown; for it is written, ‘aHe will command His angelsconcerning You’; and‘Ontheirhands they will bear You up,Lest You strike Your footagainst a stone.’”
7Jesussaid to him, “Again, it is written, ‘aYou shall not put the1Lord your Godtothetest.’”
8aAgain, the devil*took Him to a veryhighmountain and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; 9and he said to Him, “aAllthesethings I will give You, if You falldown and 1worship me.” 10ThenJesus*said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘aYou shall worship the1Lord your God, and2serve Him only.’”11Then the devil*left Him; and behold, aangelscame and began tominister to Him.
Psalm 2
The Reign of Yahweh’s Anointed
2Why do athe 1nationsrageAnd the peoplesbmeditate on a vainthing?2The akings of the earthtake their standAnd the rulerstakecounseltogetherbAgainstYahweh and against His 1,cAnointed, saying,3“Let us atear their fettersapartAnd castaway their cords from us!”4He who 1sits in the heavensalaughs,The Lordbmocks them.5Then He speaks to them in His aangerAnd bterrifies them in His fury, saying,6“But as for Me, I have 1installedaMy KingUpon Zion, bMy holymountain.”7“I will surelytell of the 1decree of Yahweh:He said to Me, ‘You are aMy Son,Today I have begotten You.8‘Ask of Me, and aI will surely givebthe 1nations as Your inheritance,And the cends of the earth as Your possession.9‘You shall 1,abreak them with a 2rod of iron,You shall bshatter them like a potter’svessel.’”10So now, O kings, ashowinsight;Takewarning, O 1judges of the earth.11ServeYahweh with afearAnd rejoice with btrembling.121Kissathe Son, lest He becomeangry, and you perishin the way,For bHis 2wrath may 3soon be kindled.How blessed are all who ctakerefuge in Him!