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a. The fall of man
 And
the Lord God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone;
I will make him an help mate for him." And out of the ground
the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of
the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them:
and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name
thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowls of
the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was
not found an help mate for him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep
to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and
closed up the flesh instead thereof; and the rib, which the Lord
God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the
man. And Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh
of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out
of Man." Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother,
and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And
they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Now
the serpent was more subtile than any beast of the field which the
Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, "Yea, hath God
said, 'Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" And
the woman said unto the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of
the trees, of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is
in the midst of the garden, God hath said, 'Ye shall not eat of
it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.'" And the serpent
said unto the woman, "Ye shall not surely die: for God doth
know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened,
and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." And when the
woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant
to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took
of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband
with her; and he did eat. 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. And they heard the voice of the Lord
God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his
wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the
trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam., and said
unto him, "Where art thou?" And he said, "I heard
thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked;
and I hid myself." And he said, "Who told thee that thou
wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee
that thou shouldest not eat?" And the man said, "The woman
whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did
eat." 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." And the Lord God said unto the
serpent, "Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above
all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt
thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: and I
will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed
and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his
heel." Unto the woman he said, "I will greatly multiply
thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth
children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule
over thee." And unto Adam he said, "Because thou hast
hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree,
of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed
is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the
days of thy life; thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth
to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat
of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground;
for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust
shalt thou return." And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because
she was the mother of all living. Unto Adam also and to his wife
did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
And
the Lord God said, "Behold, the man is become as one of us,
to know 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."
Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to
till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man;
and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a
flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree
of life.
(Genesis 2-3)
For
many hundreds of years the family of man multiplied and spread over
the earth. Because Adam and Eve had disobeyed God and passed on
the knowledge of wickedness, man became more and more corrupt. Consequently,
God decided to put an end to all this by destroying all life on
earth in a great flood. There was, however, one good man, Noah,
who still remembered God and tried to be at peace with his conscience.
So God spoke to Noah about His intention and told him to build an
ark to protect him and his kins from the waters. Noah followed God's
instructions. For 40 days it rained, the whole earth was covered
with water, those sheltered in the ark being the only survivals.
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