Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied, “and I ate.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh God said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
- KJV And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
- NKJV And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
- NASB Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
- NLT Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why 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 woman blames the serpent for deceiving her. The chain of blame continues, yet sin remains everyone's responsibility.
Overview
When God questions the woman, she too deflects, saying, 'The serpent deceived me, and I ate.' While her account of the deception is true, it does not excuse her own disobedience. The verse shows how sin spreads blame, yet it sets up God's response in which each party, including the serpent, is held accountable.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 2 Cor 11:3I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.
- 1 Tim 2:14And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman who was deceived and fell into transgression.
- Gen 3:4–6“You will not surely die,” the serpent told her.
- John 18:35“Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed You over to me. What have You done?”
- Gen 4:10–12“What have you done?” replied the LORD. “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.
- 2 Sam 12:9–12Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own, for you have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites.
- 2 Sam 3:24So Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Look, Abner came to you. Why did you dismiss him? Now he is getting away!
- Gen 44:15“What is this deed you have done?” Joseph declared. “Do you not know that a man like me can surely divine the truth?”
- 1 Sam 13:11“What have you done?” Samuel asked. And Saul replied, “When I saw that the troops were deserting me, and that you did not come at the appointed time and the Philistines were gathering at Michmash,
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 3:13 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.