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1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Did God really say 'You shall not eat of every tree in the garden?'”

2 And the woman said to the serpent, “The fruit of the trees in the garden we may eat,”

3 “but the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, or you will die.'”

4 And the serpent said to the woman, “You shall not surely die,”

5 “for God knows that on the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you shall be like gods, knowing good and evil.

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food[a], and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took[b] of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband who was there with her[c], and he ate.

7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden at the breeze of the day[a]; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God in the midst of the trees of the garden.

9 And the LORD God called to Adam and said, “Where are you?”

10 And he said, “I heard the sound of your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”

11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? From the tree that I commanded you, 'Thou shall not eat,' have you eaten?”

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

13 And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” and the woman said, “The serpent beguiled[a] me, and I ate.”

14 And the LORD God said unto the serpent, “Because you have done this, more cursed are you than all cattle, and moreso than every beast of the field; upon your belly you will go, and you will eat dust all the days of your life,

15 and I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your descendants and her descendants: they shall strike your head, and you shall strike their heel.”

16 Unto the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception: in pain you shall bring forth children, and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over you.”

17 And unto Adam he said, “Because you listened to the voice of thy wife in eating from the tree, despite that which I commanded you, saying, 'Thou shalt not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; with labour and toil shall you eat thereof all the days of your life;

18 thorns and thistles it shall yield to you; and you shall eat the herbs of the field;”

19 by the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread, till you return unto the earth, out of which you were taken; For you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.”

20 And the man called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living people.

21 And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife clothing of animal skins, and clothed them.

22 And the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us as to the knowledge of good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever—”

23 therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden, to till the earth from which he was taken.

24 So he cast out Adam; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden the Cherubim, and the flame of a sword which turned in every direction, to guard the way to the tree of life.

[1] The serpent tries to deceive Eve by presenting a false (altered) word of God, to see if Eve is wise or strong enough to see through the deception. Thus we learn that God's word is our shield against sin; so long as we are clear on God's word and his will for us we have a shield against sin that we may not immediately fall into such a trap without a chance to escape.

[3] Eve's problem here is that she added to the words of God (Proverbs 30:6); she was unclear on what it was that God had said. We also learn from this the principle of fences; If Eve had said, 'God said we may eat of all the trees in the garden, but of (this tree) we may not eat, for on that day… and I prefer to stay away (to not touch) the tree so that I may not accidentally taste it (such as if a fruit falls down and I somehow taste it…)“ that would be a lot different. Instead

[4] When the serpent heard Eve's mistake, he was at least able to say (and, truthfully) 'You shall not die,' (if you touch it,).

[5] Although there is midrash that the serpent pushed Eve to touch the tree and said, 'See! You didn't die,' the truth or falsehood of this event is immaterial due to [6a,b,c]; Eve touches the fruit before eating it.

[5] The intent of this statement is not to entice them that they will 'be like God' i.e. Satan's sin in Christianity, but, that they will be like God 'in the knowledge of good and evil' (see 3:22).

[6a] How did Eve 'see' or understand that the fruit was good for food? It is possible that the serpent ate some of it first, or it is possible that she knew she may eat of 'all the trees' but when deceived became confused and came to her own conclusion over whether or not it was good for food (in the same way she was deceived or became confused and believed the fruit was 'desired to make one wise', which is what the serpent explained to her). So we see here that the serpent deceived Eve but moreso the serpent was able to get Eve to listen to what it was saying; thus trusting some other source of information other than God over an important spiritual or theological issue. Why did not Eve check with God before eating the tree? See [7].

[6b] Eve touches the fruit before eating it, and is therefore deceived due to misunderstanding God's word. It does not matter how Eve touched the fruit first; either if the snake pushed her to touch it (literally or figuratively); She believed that God's word was true, but she was in error over what God's word was; therefore when her (false) idea was shown to be untrue, she lost faith in God's word and became open to disregarding it.

[6c] “lə·’î·šāh ‘im·māh” (to her husband who was there with her). This seems to suggest Adam was there with her during the event. Notably he does not correct her or attempt to stop her from eating the tree; this would be a pattern in the sense that Noah had a responsibility to teach his sons, as did Abraham, Moses, and along to us today. However, “I have heard some scholars say when beresheet says 'her husband who was there with her,' it means he was in the garden with her, not necessarily standing right there. Because the serpent neither talks to him nor adresses him, neither does Eve,”

[8a] Emphasizing it is the same day.

[8a] “mip·pə·nê” (presence) lit. from before the face (of something).

[8b] 'heard' but not 'seen'.

[10] The hebrew reads interestingly, (and I was afraid) (because) (was naked) (I) (and I hid myself). The (I) is “’ā-nō-ḵî” which is a striking use of the word, as this usage is usually reserved only for God (see. 15:1, Exodus 20:2). Thus it may read “I was afraid because I was naked in your presence, therefore I hid myself”. There is rationale for this (see 2:17c), referring to Adam's newfound shame while in God's presence.

[12] Adam says, '(I ate it because) she gave it to me!' and in doing so he does not take responsibility for his error, but blames Eve.

[13] Eve does not take responsibility for her error either, and blames the serpent. A key question is, why didn't God then ask the serpent what he had done? And why did he ask Adam and Eve? To give them a chance to repent. But instead of taking this opportunity they tried to pass the blame, each to another in series. Also, the serpent was never commanded not to eat from such a tree

[13a] “hiš·šî·’a·n” (deceived) strong support for 'deceived' esp. among similar words.

[14] The serpent is called again 'a beast of the field'; is not a spiritual entity such as a 'devil'.

[14] What's interesting here is that the serpent was not cursed or punished in the usual sense. The passage indicates that the serpent will be lower than humans; and that it will have an endless source of food (however low); this is not a kind of punishment one would expect.

[15] This is the “Proto-Evangelion” in Christianity (see: GNV heading “15 Christ is promised.”); A verse commonly mistranslated because in Greek there is a difference between singular and plural 'seed'. In Hebrew, the word “ze-ra‘” etc. always means descendants in the plural, much like 'sheep' or 'fish' is used for plural; there is a term for words like this: irregular plurals. Some irregular plurals have no alternate form. Such as swine or aircraft; interestingly enough loan words never have alternate forms (ex. faux pas).

The issue of 'the woman's seed'; this is not the only place which mentions the seed of the woman. Here God addresses the serpent in the presence of Eve; therefore he refers to Eve's seed and not Adam's seed. This same grammatical construction is seen when the angel speaks to Hagar (”..greatly multiply your seed…“, Gen. 16:10). The Angel does not say, greatly multiply Abraham's seed. Therefore we place no special theology on 'her seed'. We also see this in the story of Rebekah, when it is said “you become the mother of thousands and ten thousands, and may your seed…” (Genesis 24:60).

Even if we concede the missionary claim and allow that this passage refers to 'Jesus, who came to crush the head (of the snake)' then we may point out that Jesus did not actually do this; as Christians themselves would be the first to point out, “Satan's power” is still active in the world. Therefore this passage can not refer to the Christian Jesus, as there is no evidence that Jesus through his death was able to destroy the “works of the devil”.

[16] this “iṣ·ṣə·ḇō·w·nêḵ” (vs. 3:17 “bə·‘iṣ·ṣā·ḇō·wn”) also reads “with great work”, “in toil”, or also “in pain”, see 3:17. However, “bə·‘e·ṣeḇ” is a different word, which we will render 'with pain'.

[17] this “bə·‘iṣ·ṣā·ḇō·wn” also reads “with great work”, “in toil”, or also “in pain”, is similar to “‘iṣ-ṣə-ḇō-w-n êḵ” in Genesis 3:16 “in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children;”. We've chosen to use the same word here to underscore the original Hebrew. Thus, there is sorrow and toil in man's work, and sorrow and toil in woman's work.

[21] this “way-ya-‘aś” (made) is the same as 1:7, 1:16 which refers specifically to creation ex nihilo ex. via “and God said,” (see cross reference). This is in opposition to the continued formation of things out of what God had already made, such as trees bearing fruit (“‘ō-śeh”, 1:11, 1:12) or God forming the rivers and lakes, or God making man out of dust (“na-‘ă-śeh”, 1:26) and (“way-yiḇ-rā” 1:21, 1:27) and (“bā-rā”, 1:27). This indicates that God did not kill an animal to create the skins but created them out of nothing (to counter the Christian shoehorn that this was a sacrifice for Adam and Eve's “sin”, also see. no sacrifice req'd for Cain's sin). Also see Jeremiah 32:27 ““Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” et al (see cf.)

This is oft misunderstood on many levels. For example, Sister Lucia of Fatima writes in “Why did God dress Adam and Eve?” (2003), “Why did God clothe the first two human beings if, before that, they were naked?” in spite of 3:7 ”…and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.“

Also see usage of same word for clothing in Exodus 28:4, 39-40; 28:41; 29:8.

[23] 'of which he was taken,' Gen 2:8-15.

[24] 'every which way', i.e. a whirling sword. This sword, whirling and flashing, has the effect of scaring or repelling man from re-entering the garden. The Cherubim is an angel of destruction (Rashi).

[3] Proverbs 30:6 Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

[3] Deuteronomy 4:2 You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

[3] Deuteronomy 12:32 32 “Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it.

[15] Gen 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

[15] Gen 7:3 Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed (“ze-ra‘”) alive upon the face of all the earth.

[15] Gen 8:22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

[15] Gen 16:10 And the Angel of the LORD said to her, I will multiply your descendants (“zar·‘êḵ;”) exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered from multitude.

[15] Many other “ze-ra‘”, “zar-‘ă-ḵā,”, “zar-‘ă-ḵem” and related: 4:25 (“another”), 9:9, 12:7, 13:15-16, 15:5,13,18, [17]:7,9,9,10,13 (and many others not listed). Commonly, the promises made to Abraham refer to his “ze-ra‘” (seed, same word); his progeny, in the plural.

[15] ex. seed of the woman. Genesis 24:60 And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.

[17] Genesis 8:21

[21] “way-ya-‘aś” as found in 1:7, 1:16

This story including the fall of man takes place just prior to the evening of the sixth day, entering the seventh day, such that approximately after the cherubim was placed in the east part it became the seventh day. We conclude from the combined narrative of Genesis 1, 2 and 3 that God stated at the end of his work on the sixth day that his work was 'very good', this would have been after the fall of man according to the narrative. Secondly, Eve was created after Adam was commanded not to eat the fruit; although the commandment would have been given to Eve as well, it would most likely have been given via Adam. Thirdly and also, according to the narrative Adam was there with Eve in the garden during the entire conversation with the snake and the eating of the fruit. This places Adam in the role of teacher in the same sense that Noah and Abraham were teachers (and in the same vein, Cain and Shem, so to speak).

Given that it was likely a result of the timing of the creation of Eve, and that the creation of Eve was likely premeditated (God showed Adam the animals to teach him the lesson), it seems likely that God intended Eve to have a weaker grasp of his command than Adam. In this role we may see her purpose as to induce Adam to eat from the tree. If we draw the conclusion that had Eve known the commandment properly she would not have been drawn into sin, thet without Eve as a 'helper' Adam would have never eaten the fruit. There are some interesting ideas here; in what other respect could Eve be a helper, as her first action in the garden was to convey temptation to Adam? Why is it not good that he be alone? What message or intent does this convey to us? And in what respect did Adam fail Eve (in multiple ways) by allowing her to eat the Fruit? Wasn't Adam supposed to help Eve as well? This, along with the grammar construct of “thou should not eat it, because when you eat it…” versus for example “do not eat from…”, along with “and it was very good” at the end of the sixth day strongly suggests that it was God's plan that they eat from he tree at some point.

The curses are also interesting, if one carefully examines the curse given to Man the curse is solely that he must work hard to till the soil (more or less) and for women, that childbirth will be more painful. These curses seem more akin to simply what happens when one is living in the world; for if Adam and Eve were created in paradise and without sin versus the capacity for free will, then it would be impossible for them to have sinned. In actuality it seems as if the “curse” is merely an explanation of how life is on the outside.

Secondly, the curse against man seems to have been lifted after the flood: “I will never again curse[a] the ground because of man,” (Genesis 8:21). Thus if it is man who sinned, then this sin will no longer be punished – and there was no other curse other than that they would physically die – a curse which was severely restricted not only by the covenant of the rainbow and by various covenants with the patriarchs, but completely lifted at Mt. Sinai; this is the “I have set before you life and death,” (Deu. 30:19). Even later, through prophets God would confirm that there would even be a resurrection of the dead for those who kept the covenant. Thus the idea that a punishment or curse persists to this day is not supported by a reading of scripture.

Selected commentary.

h.והנחש היה ערום AND THE SERPENT WAS MORE SUBTLE — What connection is there between the following narrative and the statement just made? The latter should have been followed by: “and He [the Lord God] made for Adam and his wife garments of skin and clothed them” (3:21), but Scripture informs you with what plan the serpent assailed them: he saw them naked and unashamed and he coveted her (Eve) (Genesis Rabbah [18]:6).

h.ערום מכל MORE SUBTLE THAN ALL — Corresponding with his subtleness and his greatness was his downfall; “more subtle than all” — “more cursed than all” (see 5:14). (Genesis Rabbah [19]:1).

h.‘אף כי אמר וגו ALTHOUGH GOD HATH SAID — The meaning is, “Perhaps He has said unto you” ‘לא תאכלו מכל וגו YE SHALL NOT EAT OF EVERY TREE OF THE GARDEN — And although he saw them eating of the other fruits yet he entered into a long conversation with her so that she should answer him, and so that he might then have an opportunity to talk about that particular tree.

h.ולא תגעו בו NEITHER SHALL YE TOUCH IT — She added to God’s command (which did not forbid touching the tree, but only eating of its fruit) therefore she was led to diminish from it. It is to this that the text refers (Proverbs 30:6): “Add thou not unto His words” (Genesis Rabbah [19]:3).

h.לא מות תמתון YE SHALL NOT SURELY DIE — He pushed her until she touched it. He then said to her, “Just as there is no death in touching it, so there is no death in eating it” (Genesis Rabbah [19]:3).

h.כי ידע FOR [GOD] KNOWS — Every artisan detests his fellow-artisans (“Two of a trade never agree”). The serpent suggested to her: God ate of the tree and created the world (Genesis Rabbah [19]:4) so if you eat …

h.והייתם כאלהים YE WILL BE AS GOD — Creators of worlds.

h.ותרא האשה AND THE WOMAN SAW — She approved the words of the serpent — they pleased her and she believed him (Genesis Rabbah [19]:3).

h.כי טוב העץ THAT THE TREE WAS GOOD to make her become like God.

h.וכי תאוה היא לעינים AND THAT IT WAS A DELIGHT TO THE EYES — even as he had said to her: “then your eyes shall be opened”.

h.ונחמד להשכיל AND IT WAS TO BE DESIRED TO MAKE ONE WISE — even as he had said to her: “knowing good and evil”.

h.ותתן גם לאשה AND SHE GAVE ALSO TO HER HUSBAND so that she should not die and he remain alive to take another wife (Genesis Rabbah [19]:5). The word גם, also, may be understood to include cattle and beasts (that is, that she gave to these and also to her husband) (Genesis Rabbah [19]:5).

h.‘ותפקחנה וגו [AND THE EYES OF BOTH OF THEM] WERE UNCLOSED — Scripture speaks here with reference to intelligence (the mind’s eye) and not with reference to actual seeing; the end of the verse proves this for it states,

h.וידעו כי ערומים הם AND THEY KNEW THAT THEY WERE NAKED — Even a blind person knows when he is naked! What then does “and they knew that they were naked” signify? One charge had been entrusted to them and they now knew they had stripped themselves of it (Genesis Rabbah [19]:6).

h.עלה תאנה FIG LEAVES — This was the tree of which they had eaten; by the very thing through which their ruin had been caused was some improvement effected in their condition (Sanhedrin 70b). The other trees however prevented them from taking of their leaves. And why is not the name of the tree clearly mentioned? Because the Holy One, blessed be He, never wishes to grieve anything He has created: hence its name is not mentioned in order that it might not be put to shame by people saying, “This is the tree through which the world suffered” (Midrash R. Tanchuma 1:4:14).

h.וישמעו AND THEY HEARD — There are many Midrashic explanations and our Teachers have already collected them in their appropriate places in Genesis Rabbah and in other Midrashim. I, however, am only concerned with the plain sense of Scripture and with such Agadoth that explain the words of Scripture in a manner that fits in with them. וישמעו AND THEY HEARD — What did they hear? They heard the sound of the Holy One, blessed be He, as He walked in the garden (see Genesis Rabbah [19]:12).

h.לרוח היום IN THE WIND OF THE DAY — (רוח is used also in the meaning of direction,— north, east, — etc.) in that direction to which the sun travels (באה לשם) which is the west, for towards evening the sun is in the west, and they committed the sin in the tenth hour (Sanhedrin 38b).

h.איכה WHERE ART THOU — He knew where he was, but He asked this in order to open up a conversation with him that he should not become confused in his reply, if He were to pronounce punishment against him all of a sudden. Similarly in the case of Cain, He said to him, (4:9) “where is Abel thy brother?” Similarly with Balaam, (Numbers 22:9) “what men are these with thee?” — to open up a conversation with them; so, also, in the case of Hezekiah with reference to the messengers of Merodach-baladan (Isaiah 39:3).

h.מי הגיד לך WHO TOLD THEE? — Whence has the knowledge come to you what shame there is in standing naked?

h.המן העץ HAST THOU EATEN OF THE TREE — The ' ה of the word המן expresses a question.

h.אשר נתת עמדי WHOM THOU GAVEST TO BE WITH ME — Here he showed his ingratitude (Avodah Zarah 5b).

h.השיאני means HE DECEIVED ME; — we find the word in the same meaning in (2 Chronicles 32:15), “Now therefore let not Hezekiah beguile you” (Genesis Rabbah [19]).

h.כי עשית זאת BECAUSE THOU HAST DONE THIS — From here we infer that we should not occupy ourselves with what may be in favour of one who seduces people to idolatry, for had He asked it, “Why hast thou done this?”, it could have answered Him, “When the words of the teacher and those of the pupil are contradictory, whose orders should be obeyed?” (Sanhedrin 29a). (i. e. if You told them one thing and I another, should they not have obeyed You?).

h.מכל הבהמה ומכל חית השדה FROM AMONG (or, MORE THAN) ALL CATTLE AND ALL THE BEASTS OF THE FIELD — If it was cursed more than the cattle whose period of gestation is longer than that of beasts does it not necessarily follow that it was cursed more than the beasts? Our Rabbis have definitely established the correctness of the following deduction in treatise Bekhorot 8a, that it (viz., the use of these apparently superfluous words “and more than all the beasts of the field”) teaches that the period of gestation of the serpent is seven years.

h.על גחנך תלך UPON THY BELLY SHALT THOU GO — It had feet but they were cut off (Genesis Rabbah 20:5).

h.ואיבה אשית AND I WILL SET ENMITY — Your sole intention was that Adam should die by eating it first and that you should then take Eve for yourself (Genesis Rabbah 20:5), and you came to speak to Eve first only because women are easily influenced and know how to influence their husbands; therefore “I shall put enmity [between thee and the woman]”.

h.הוא ישופך HE WILL BRUISE (or, POUND) THEE— Like (Deuteronomy 9:21), “And I beat in pieces” which Onkelos translates by ושפית “I pounded it.”

h.ואתה תשופנו עקב AND THOU SHALT BRUISE HIS HEEL — As you will have no height (not stand erect) you will be able to bite him only on the heel, but even at that spot you will kill him. The word תשופנו is of the same import as the verb in (Isaiah 40:24). נשף בהם “It bloweth upon them.” When a serpent comes to bite, it blows with a kind of hissing sound. Although the words ישופך and תשופנו have different meanings, since they constitute “a play upon words” by sounding similar, they are both used here.

h.עצבנך THY PAIN — viz., the trouble of rearing children (Eruvin 100b).

h.והרונך AND THY CONCEPTION— viz., the pain of pregnancy.

h.בעצב תלדי בנים IN PAIN THOU SHALT BEAR CHILDREN — This refers to the pangs of childbirth (Eruvin 100b).

h.תשוקתך THY DESIRE — Similar to (Isaiah 29:8), ונפשו שוקקה “and his soul hath appetite”, (desires).

h.ארורה האדמה בעבורך CURSED BE THE GROUND FOR THY SAKE — It will produce to you cursed objects such as flies, fleas and ants; it may be compared to the case of one who gets into depraved ways, and people curse the breasts at which he was suckled (Genesis Rabbah 5:9).

h.וקוץ ודרדר תצמיח לך THORNS ALSO AND THISTLES SHALL IT BRING FORTH TO THEE— תצמיח has for subject the earth; when you sow it with various kinds of grain, it shall bring forth thorns and thistles — artichokes and cardoon — which are fit for food only after special preparation (Genesis Rabbah 20:10).

h.ואכלת את עשב השדה AND THOU SHALT EAT THE HERB OF THE FIELD — What curse is involved here? Was he not told as a blessing, (1:29) “Behold I have given unto you every herb yielding seed”? But what is stated here at the beginning of this passage? “Cursed be the ground etc.… in toil shalt thou eat of it.” And after all your toil “thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee”. This means when you sow it with cereals and vegetables it shall bring forth for you thorns and thistles and other weeds, and you will perforce have to eat them for lack of other food (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 14).

h.בזעת אפיך IN THE SWEAT OF THY FACE — after you have taken all this great trouble.

h.ויקרא האדם AND THE MAN CALLED — Scripture now reverts to its previous topic (Genesis 2:20) beginning with “and the man gave names”. It broke it off (that is, interpolated the story of the serpent) only to tell you that through the giving of names Eve became his mate, as it is written (Genesis 2:20) “but for Adam there was not found a help meet for him,” and that therefore “the [Lord God] caused to fall a deep sleep upon him” and formed Eve. But because Scripture writes at the end of the story of creation of Eve (Genesis 5:25), “and they were both naked”, it therefore follows on with the passage dealing with the serpent, to inform you that because he saw her nakedness and that they displayed no feeling of shame in their actions, he desired her, and he came upon them with his evil plan and with deceit.

h.חוה EVE — חוה has the same sound as חיה (and similar meaning “life”) — she was so called because she gives life (birth) to her children; the interchange of ‘י and ‘ו is similar to that in (Ecclesiastes 2:22), מה הוה לאדם “for what hath a man”, where הוה is used in the sense of היה “to be.”

h.כתנות עור GARMENTS FOR THE SKIN — There are Agadoth which say that they were smooth as fingernails, cleaving to their skin; whereas some say that they were made of material that comes from skin, as for example, the hair of hares which is soft and warm, and of this He made garments for them (Genesis Rabbah 20:12).

h.היה כאחד ממנו IS BECOME LIKE ONE OF US (or, like the Being who is One, Unique amongst us) — Lo, he is unique among the terrestrial ones, even as I am unique among the celestial ones. And in what does his uniqueness consist? In knowing good and evil, which is not so in the case of cattle and beasts (Genesis Rabbah 21:5).

h.ועתה פן ישלח ידו AND NOW, LEST HE PUT FORTH HIS HAND… [AND EAT AND LIVE FOR EVER] — And if he does live forever he is likely to lead people astray, so that they may say, “He, also, is a god”; there are also Agadic Midrashim, but they are not in keeping with its (the verse’s) plain sense.

h.מקדם לגן עדן AT THE EAST OF THE GARDEN OF EDEN — Not in the eastern part of the Garden but eastward of the garden of Eden and outside the garden.

h.את הכרבים THE CHERUBIM — Angels of destruction (Exodus Rabbah 9:11).

h.החרב המתהפכת THE SWORD TURNING ITSELF — It was a revolving sword and consequently had a להט, a flashing flame for the purpose of frightening him so that he should not enter again into the garden. The Targum of להט, however, is שגן, like (Sanhedrin 82a) שלף שגגא he drew his blade; old French lame. There are Agadic Midrashim, but I come only to explain it according to its plain sense.