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Genesis 3

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1 And the serpent was more· cunning ·than any wild·​·animal of the field which Jehovah God had made; and he said to the woman, Yea, has God said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

2 And the woman said to the serpent, Of the fruit of the tree of the garden we may eat;

3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.

4 And the serpent said to the woman: Dying you shall· not ·die.

5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as God, knowing good and evil.

6 And the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was appealing to the eyes, and the tree was desirable to make· one ·intelligent, and she took from its fruit and did eat, and she gave also to her man with her, and he did eat.

7 And the eyes of the two of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made girdles for themselves.

8 And they heard the voice of Jehovah God going to itself in the garden in the wind of the day; and man and his wife hid·​·themselves from the face of Jehovah God in the midst of the tree of the garden.

9 And Jehovah God called to man, and said to him, Where art thou?

10 And he said, I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I feared, for I was naked; and I hid·​·myself.

11 And He said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee not to eat?

12 And man said, The woman whom Thou gavest to be with·​·me, she gave to me from the tree, and I ate.

13 And Jehovah God said to the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I ate.

14 And Jehovah God said to the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed more·​·than every beast, and more·​·than every wild·​·animal of the field; on thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; He shall injure* thy head, and thou shalt injure His heel.

16 And to the woman He said, Multiplying I will multiply thy grief and thy conception; in grief thou shalt bring·​·forth sons, and thy desire* shall be to thy man, and he shall rule over thee.

17 And to man He said, Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten from the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat from it; cursed is the ground on account of thee; in great grief shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life.

18 And the thorn and the thistle it shall make grow for thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.

19 By the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread, until thou return to the ground; for out·​·of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and to dust shalt thou return.

20 And man called the name of his wife Eve*, for she was the mother of all the living*.

21 And Jehovah God made for man and for his wife tunics of skin, and clothed them.

22 And Jehovah God said, Behold, man was as one of us*, knowing good and evil; and now lest he put·​·forth his hand, and take also of the tree of lives, and eat, and live to eternity

23 and Jehovah God sent· him ·out from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.

24 And He drove·​·out man; and He caused cherubim to abide from the east toward the garden of Eden, and the flame of the sword turning itself, to keep the way of the tree of lives.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Conjugial Love # 135

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135. After this they took the piece of paper and read the third topic for discussion, namely, what the tree of life symbolizes, what the tree of the knowledge of good and evil symbolizes, and what eating from them means. And they all asked the people on the east to explain this mystery, because it required a deeper understanding, and people who come from the east have a flaming light, that is to say, a wisdom that comes of love, which is the wisdom meant by the garden in Eden in which the two trees were placed.

The people on the east, then, replied, "We will speak. But because no one acquires anything from himself but from the Lord, we will speak from Him, though it will still seem to come from us as though it originated with us."

Then they said, "A tree symbolizes a person; and its fruit, goodness of life. The tree of life therefore symbolizes a person living from God, or God living in the person. And because love and wisdom and charity and faith or good and truth constitute the life of God in a person, the tree of life symbolizes these qualities, from which a person has eternal life. The tree of life which people will be given to eat from, in the book of Revelation, has a similar symbolism (Revelation 2:7, 22:2,14).

[2] "The tree of the knowledge of good and evil symbolizes a person believing that he lives on his own and not from God, thus that the love and wisdom, charity and faith, or good and truth in the person are his and not God's - believing this because he thinks and wills, and speaks and acts, in all likeness and appearance as if on his own. Because a person with this belief comes into the persuasion that God has introduced Himself or infused His Divinity into him, therefore the serpent said:

...God knows that in the day you eat (of the fruit of the tree) your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:5)

[3] "Eating from the two trees symbolizes acquisition and assimilation. Eating from the tree of life symbolizes acquisition of eternal life, and eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil symbolizes acquisition of damnation. Therefore Adam and his wife were both cursed along with the serpent. The serpent means the devil in respect to self-love and pride in its own intelligence. This love takes possession of the tree, and people who are caught up in pride as a result of that love are the trees it possesses.

"People fall into an enormous error, therefore, who believe that Adam was wise and did good from his own nature, and that this was his state of integrity, when Adam himself was cursed for precisely that belief. For this is what is symbolized by his eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That was why he then fell from his state of integrity, which he had had as a result of his believing that he was wise and did good from God and not from himself, for that is what is meant by his eating from the tree of life.

"The Lord alone, when He was in the world, was wise of Himself and did good of Himself, because the Divine itself was in Him and was His from birth. Consequently He also became Redeemer and Savior by His own power."

[4] On the basis of these remarks and explanations, the people formed the following conclusion:

"The tree of life, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and eating from them," they said, "symbolize that the source of life for man is to have God in him, and that he then gains heaven and eternal life. On the other hand, the source of death for man is the persuasion and belief that the source of life for man is not God but himself, on which account he gains hell and eternal death, which is damnation."

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.