Portal:Christianity/Selected article/September 2007

  Adam and Eve were the first man and woman created by God according to the Torah and later the Bible and the Qur'an.

This story is told in the book of Genesis, chapters 1, 2 and 3, with some additional elements in chapters 4 and 5. God creates Adam from the dust of the earth and breathes life into him, making him a living being (nephesh). God then creates the animals, and Adam names them. Finally, God makes Adam a helpmate fashioned from his rib. God forbids Adam and Eve from eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, warning that they will die if they do. The serpent tempts Eve into eating the forbidden fruit, and she gives the fruit to Adam, too.

They become aware of their nakedness, and when God sees the clothes they have made for themselves, he knows they've disobeyed his command. God expels them both from the Garden of Eden and curses them. The man is cursed to labor, and the woman is cursed to submit to her husband and to bear children in pain. God also curses the serpent to crawl and to eat dust, and he puts enmity between people and serpents. God posts an angel to guard the entrance to the garden.