Wednesday 24 May 2028

1Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the fieldwhich the Lord God had made.He said to the woman,“Has God really said,‘You shall not eat of any tree of the garden’?”

2The woman said to the serpent,“We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden,3but not the fruit of the treewhich is in the middle of the garden.God has said, ‘You shall not eat of it.You shall not touch it, lest you die.’”

4The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t really die,5for God knows that in the day you eat it,your eyes will be opened,and you will be like God,knowing good and evil.”

6When 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 some of its fruit, and ate.Then she gave some to her husband with her,and he ate it, too.7Their eyes were opened,and they both knew that they were naked.They sewed fig leaves together,and made coverings for themselves.8They heard the Lord God’s voice walking in the garden in the cool of the day,and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

9The Lord God called to the man,and said to him, “Where are you?”

10The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden,and I was afraid, because I was naked;so I hid myself.”

11God said, “Who told you that you were naked?Have you eaten from the treethat I commanded you not to eat from?”

12The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me,she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

13The Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

14The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,you are cursed above all livestock,and above every animal of the field.You shall go on your bellyand you shall eat dust all the days of your life.15I will put hostility between you and the woman,and between your offspring and her offspring.He will bruise your head,and you will bruise his heel.”

· · · verses 16–19 are not read20The man called his wife Evebecause she would be the mother of all the living.

14For this cause, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,15from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,16that he would grant you,according to the riches of his glory,that you may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person,17that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith,to the end that you,being rooted and grounded in love,18may be strengthened to comprehend with all the saints what is the widthand length and height and depth,19and to know Christ’s love which surpasses knowledge,that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

19His mother and brothers came to him,and they could not come near him for the crowd.20Some people told him,“Your mother and your brothers stand outside,desiring to see you.”

21But he answered them,“My mother and my brothers are thesewho hear the word of God and do it.”