The serpent said to the woman, “You won’t surely die,
Parallel translations
- KJV And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
- BSB “You will not surely die,” the serpent told her.
- NKJV Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
- NASB The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die!
- NLT “You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman.
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 serpent flatly denies that disobedience brings death. He directly contradicts God's clear warning.
Overview
The serpent moves from questioning God's word to openly contradicting it, declaring, 'You won't surely die.' This bold denial calls God a liar and presents disobedience as harmless. It is the original lie about sin, that we can break God's command and escape its consequences, a deception unmasked by the reality of death and reversed only in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- John 8:44You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and its father.
- 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;
- 2 Cor 2:11that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
- Gen 3:13Yahweh God said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
- 2 Kgs 1:16He said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word? Therefore you will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you will surely die.’”
- 2 Kgs 1:4Now therefore Yahweh says, “You will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you will surely die.”’” Then Elijah departed.
- 2 Kgs 1:6They said to him, “A man came up to meet us, and said to us, ‘Go, return to the king who sent you, and tell him, “Yahweh says, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you send to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you will surely die.’”’”
- Deut 29:19and it happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, “I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart, to destroy the moist with the dry.”
- 2 Kgs 8:10Elisha said to him, “Go, tell him, ‘You will surely recover;’ however Yahweh has shown me that he will surely die.”
- Ps 10:11He says in his heart, “God has forgotten. He hides his face. He will never see it.”
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 3:4 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.