Yahweh God said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Parallel translations
- 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.
- BSB Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied, “and I ate.”
- 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 11:3But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
- 1 Tim 2:14Adam wasn’t deceived, but the woman, being deceived, has fallen into disobedience;
- Gen 3:4–6The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t surely die,
- John 18:35Pilate answered, “I’m not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered you to me. What have you done?”
- Gen 4:10–12Yahweh said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground.
- 2 Sam 12:9–12Why have you despised Yahweh’s word, to do that which is evil in his sight? You have struck Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
- 2 Sam 3:24Then Joab came to the king, and said, “What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you. Why is it that you have sent him away, and he is already gone?
- Gen 44:15Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Don’t you know that such a man as I can indeed divine?”
- 1 Sam 13:11Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul said, “Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you didn’t come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines assembled themselves together 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.