In the beginning, God made the whole world. Everything was new and beautiful. There were large trees, colorful flowers and many animals of all sizes. In the midst of this wonderful world, God has made a special garden. This garden was called Eden. It was like a big, beautiful park.
In this garden lived the first man God had made. His name was Adam. God didn’t want Adam to be alone, so He made a woman named Eve. Adam and Eve lived together in the Garden of Eden. They were very happy, because God was with them.
God said to Adam and Eve, “You can live in this garden and eat anything you want. But there is one tree from which you must not eat. This is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Adam and Eve listened to God and lived happily in their new home.
One day a snake came into the garden. She was very smart. The serpent said to Eve, “Why don’t you eat from this special tree? He’s so beautiful!” Eve answered, “God has said that we should not eat of this tree.”
The snake whispered, “Nothing will happen to you. God does not want you to eat from the tree, because then you will be like Him and know everything!” Then Eve looked at the tree. She saw that the fruits looked delicious. So she took a fruit and ate of it. She also gave the fruit to Adam, and he also ate.
Then Adam and Eve realized that they had made a big mistake. They had not obeyed God. When God came into the garden, they hid because they were afraid. God asked, “Adam, where are you?” Adam answered anxiously, “I hid because I was afraid.”
God knew that Adam and Eve had eaten from the forbidden tree. He was sad. Because they had not obeyed, Adam and Eve had to leave the beautiful garden. But God never stopped loving them. He promised to help them, even outside the garden.
Message of history
God wants us to listen to Him because He loves us and knows what is good for us. Even if we make mistakes, God still loves us and is with us.
Bible passage
The account of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is found in chapters 2 and 3 of Genesis. Here are the relevant passages from the Schlachter 2000 translation:
Genesis 2:7-9:
“Then the Lord God formed man, dust from the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; thus man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden to the east, and put in it the man whom he had made. And the Lord God caused all kinds of trees to sprout out of the earth, pleasant to look at and good for food, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”
Genesis 2:15-17:
“And the Lord God took man and set him in the garden of Eden, to cultivate it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From every tree of the garden you may eat as you please; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, from it you shall not eat; for on the day that you eat of it, you must surely die!”
Genesis 3:1-7:
“But the serpent was more cunning than all the beasts of the field that the Lord God had made, and he said to the woman, ‘Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat of all the trees of the garden?’ Then the woman said to the serpent, “We eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘Do not eat of it or touch it, lest you die.’ Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die at all.” but God knows that in the day that you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing what is good and evil. And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, that it was a delight to the eyes, and that it was alluring because it made you wise; And she took some of his fruit and ate, and she also gave it to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they tied fig leaves together and made aprons for themselves.”
Genesis 3:22-24:
“And the Lord God said, Behold, man has become like one of us, that he may know what is good and what is evil. Well, that he does not stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever! Therefore the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to cultivate the field from which he had been taken. And he cast out man, and set the cherubim east of the Garden of Eden, and the flaming and flashing sword, to preserve the way to the tree of life.”
These passages include the creation of Adam and Eve, their time in the Garden of Eden, the temptation of the serpent, and the eventual expulsion from the garden.
