¹ Now the serpent was more subtle than any of the beasts of the earth which the Lord God made. And he said to the woman: Why hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?

² And the woman answered him, saying: Of the fruit of the trees that are in paradise we do eat:

³ But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of paradise, God hath commanded us that we should not eat; and that we should not touch it, lest perhaps we die.

⁴ And the serpent said to the woman: No, you shall not die the death.

⁵ For God doth know that in what day soever you shall eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened: and you shall be as Gods, knowing good and evil.

⁶ And the woman saw that the tree was good to eat, and fair to the eyes, and delightful to behold: and she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave to her husband who did eat.

⁷ And the eyes of them both were opened: and when they perceived themselves to be naked, they sewed together fig leaves, and made themselves aprons.

⁸ And when they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in paradise at the afternoon air, Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of the Lord God, amidst the trees of paradise.

⁹ And the Lord God called Adam, and said to him: Where art thou?

¹⁰ And he said: I heard thy voice in paradise; and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.

¹¹ And he said to him: And who hath told thee that thou wast naked, but that thou hast eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat?

¹² And Adam said: The woman, whom thou gavest me to be my companion, gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

¹³ And the Lord God said to the woman: Why hast thou done this? And she answered: The serpent deceived me, and I did eat.

¹⁴ And the Lord God said to the serpent: Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle, and the beasts of the earth: upon thy breast shalt thou go, and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.

¹⁵ I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.

¹⁶ To the woman also he said: I will multiply thy sorrows, and thy conceptions: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thou shalt be under thy husband's power, and he shall have dominion over thee.

¹⁷ And to Adam he said: Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat, cursed is the earth in thy work; with labour and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy life.

¹⁸ Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou eat the herbs of the earth.

¹⁹ In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread till thou return to the earth, out of which thou wast taken: for dust thou art, and into dust thou shalt return.

²⁰ And Adam called the name of his wife Eve: because she was the mother of all the living.

²¹ And the Lord God made for Adam and his wife, garments of skins, and clothed them.

²² And he said: Behold Adam is become as one of us, knowing good and evil: now, therefore, lest perhaps he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.

²³ And the Lord God sent him out of the paradise of pleasure, to till the earth from which he was taken.

²⁴ And he cast out Adam; and placed before the paradise of pleasure Cherubims, and a flaming sword, turning every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

¹ All things have their season, and in their times All things pass under heaven.

² A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted.

³ A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build.

⁴ A time to weep, and a time to laugh. A time to mourn, and a time to dance.

⁵ A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather. A time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.

⁶ A time to get, and a time to lose. A time to keep, and a time to cast away.

⁷ A time to rend, and a time to sew. A time to keep silence, and a time to speak.

⁸ A time of love, and a time of hatred. A time of war, and a time of peace.

⁹ What hath man more of his labour?

¹⁰ I have seen the trouble, which God hath given the sons of men to be exercised in it.

¹¹ He hath made all things good in their time, and hath delivered the world to their consideration, so that man cannot flnd out the work which God hath made from the beginning to the end.

¹² And I have known that there was no better thing than to rejoice, and to do well in this life.

¹³ For every man that eateth and drinketh, and seeth good of his labour, this is the gift of God.

¹⁴ I have learned that all the works which God hath made, continue for ever: we cannot add any thing, nor take away from those things which God hath made that he may be feared.

¹⁵ That which hath been made, the same continueth: the things that shall be, have already been: and God restoreth that which is past.

¹⁶ I saw under the sun in the place of judgment wickedness, and in the place of justice iniquity.

¹⁷ And I said in my heart: God shall judge both the just and the wicked, and then shall be the time of every thing.

¹⁸ I said in my heart concerning the sons of men, that God would prove them, and shew them to be like beasts.

¹⁹ Therefore the death of man, and of beasts is one, and the condition of them both is equal: as man dieth, so they also die: all things breathe alike, and man hath nothing more than beast: all things are subject to vanity.

²⁰ And all things go to one place: of earth they were made, and into earth they return together.

²¹ Who knoweth if the spirit of the children of Adam ascend upward, and if the spirit of the beasts descend downward?

²² And I have found that nothing is better than for a man to rejoice in his work, and that this is his portion. For who shall bring him to know the things that shall be after him?