Retelling and expansion
The temptation in Eden
Jubilees retells the serpent's speech, the eating of the fruit and the discovery of nakedness, adding chronological details to the narrative. Genesis continues with God's questions and the man's and woman's explanations of their actions.
Read these as distinct passages with their own references. The columns compare a relationship between works; they do not align equivalent verses or highlight translation differences.
Ethiopian collection
R. H. Charles
Jubilees 3:17–25
17 And after the completion of the seven years, which he had completed there, seven years exactly, [8 A.M.] and in the second month, on the seventeenth day (of the month), the serpent came and approached the woman, and the serpent said to the woman, 'Hath God commanded you, saying, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?'
18 And she said to it, 'Of all the fruit of the trees of the garden God hath said unto us, Eat; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden God hath said unto us, Ye shall not eat thereof, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.'
19 And the serpent said unto the woman, 'Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that on the day ye shall eat thereof, your eyes will be opened, and ye will be as gods, and ye will know good and evil.
20 And the woman saw the tree that it was agreeable and pleasant to the eye, and that its fruit was good for food, and she took thereof and eat.
21 And when she had first covered her shame with figleaves, she gave thereof to Adam and he eat, and his eyes were opened, and he saw that he was naked.
22 And he took figleaves and sewed (them) together, and made an apron for himself, and ,covered his shame.
23 And God cursed the serpent, and was wroth with it for ever . . .
24 And He was wroth with the woman, because she harkened to the voice of the serpent, and did eat; and He said unto her: 'I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy pains: in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and thy return shall be unto thy husband, and he will rule over thee.'
25 And to Adam also he said, ' Because thou hast harkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat thereof, cursed be the ground for thy sake: thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat thy bread in the sweat of thy face, till thou returnest to the earth from whence thou wast taken; for earth thou art, and unto earth shalt thou return.'
Biblical passage
World English Bible
Genesis 3:1–13
1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, "Yes, has God said, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?'"
2 The woman said to the serpent, "Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat,
3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"
4 The serpent said to the woman, "You won't surely die,
5 for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit of it, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.
7 Both of their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8 They heard the voice of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden.
9 Yahweh God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"
10 The man said, "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself."
11 God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"
12 The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate."
13 Yahweh God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
Editorial reading aids
Context for the comparison
The selected passages do not have matching boundaries: follow the full chapters to compare the judgements and expulsion. Added chronology should be identified as part of Jubilees' presentation, rather than silently inserted into Genesis.
Questions for close reading
- What details does Jubilees add to locate the event in time?
- How are desire, knowledge and responsibility expressed?
Use the full-chapter links to highlight passages and save your own notes in the reader.
Text sources and editorial treatment
R. H. Charles's English translation as published in The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament (1913), transcribed by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Public-domain translation. Source chapter and verse numbering, including chronological annotations, is retained; editorial chapter summaries are omitted. This is a historic scholarly edition, not an official English translation of the Ethiopian Church.
Charles's Jubilees: full source · About World English Bible and the other Bible editions
Each panel displays the stored source text without rewriting it to resemble the other passage. Verse labels belong to that edition. The observations above describe these selected passages; they are not ancient text or a claim that all scholarly interpretations agree.