And the man answered, “The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
Parallel translations
- WEB The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, 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.”
- 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.”
- NLT The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The man blames the woman and even God for giving her to him. Sin gives rise to excuse-making rather than honest repentance.
Overview
Confronted by God, the man shifts the blame to 'the woman whom you gave to be with me,' implicating both her and God rather than confessing his own guilt. This deflection shows how sin corrupts relationships and resists taking responsibility. True restoration requires the honest confession the man avoids, the kind of repentance the gospel finally makes possible through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Prov 28:13He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.
- Jas 1:13–15When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone.
- Rom 10:3Because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
- Job 31:33if I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart,
- Gen 2:18The LORD God also said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.”
- Prov 19:3A man’s own folly subverts his way, yet his heart rages against the LORD.
- 1 Sam 15:20–24“But I did obey the LORD,” Saul replied. “I went on the mission that the LORD gave me. I brought back Agag king of Amalek and devoted the Amalekites to destruction.
- Luke 10:29But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
- Exod 32:21–24“What did this people do to you,” Moses asked Aaron, “that you have led them into so great a sin?”
- Gen 2:20The man gave names to all the livestock, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found.
- Gen 2:22And from the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man, He made a woman and brought her to him.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 3:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.