Adam and Eve were very happy, for they had never done anything wrong. God gave them a beautiful wide garden, called Eden, full of flowers and all kinds of fruit, and with a river flowing through it, and told Adam to take care of the garden, and He sent all the animals and birds to Adam to be named. God told him also that he might eat the fruit of all the trees of the garden except one—the tree of knowledge of good and evil—but if he ate of the fruit of that tree he should surely die, and Adam and Eve loved God, and had no wish to disobey Him, for He was their Father.

But there was a creeping serpent in the garden, and the evil spirit that puts wrong thoughts in our hearts spoke to Eve through the serpent.

“You shall not die,” he said, “but you shall be wise like God if you will eat of this fruit,” and Eve ate of the fruit, and gave it to her husband. Then they knew that they had sinned, and when they heard the voice of God in the garden calling them, they hid among the trees, for they were unhappy and afraid. When the Lord had asked Adam if he had eaten of the fruit that was forbidden, Adam laid the sin upon Eve, who gave it to him, and Eve said that the serpent had tempted her to eat of the fruit. God knew that they must suffer for their sin, so He sent them out of the garden to make a garden for themselves, and to work, and suffer pain, as all who came after them have done to this day; but He gave them a great promise, that among their children’s children One should be born who would be stronger than sin, and a Savior from it.

After this two little children were sent to comfort Adam and Eve—first Cain, and then Abel. When they grew up Cain was a farmer, but Abel was a shepherd.

They had been taught to worship God by bringing the best of all they had to Him, and so Cain brought fruit and grain to lay upon his altar, but Abel brought a lamb.

God looked into their hearts and saw that Abel wished to do right, but Cain’s heart was full of sin. Cain was angry because the Lord was pleased with the worship of Abel, and while they talked in the field Cain killed his brother. When the Lord said to Cain, “Where is thy brother?” he answered, “I know not. Am I my brother’s keeper?” And the Lord sent him away from home, to wander from place to place over the earth, and find no rest, but He promised that no one should hurt Cain, or kill him as he had killed his brother, so he went away into another land to live.

Adam lived many years after this and had other children, but at last he died, when his children’s children were beginning to spread over the land. Mary Lathbury. Child’s Story of the Bible.

THE FIRST DISOBEDIENCE

Now the serpent was more deceitful than any other animal that Jehovah had made; and it said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman answered, “We may eat of the fruit of all the trees of the garden except the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, for God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it, nor shall you touch it; for if you do, you shall die.'” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You shall not surely die; for God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will know what is good and what is evil.”

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, beautiful to look at and that it would make her wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.[6]

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, so that they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together and made girdles for themselves. When they heard the sound of the footsteps of Jehovah, as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, the man and his wife hid from him among the trees of the garden.

And Jehovah called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” and he answered, “I heard the sound of thy footsteps in the garden and I was afraid, because I was naked; so I hid myself.” Jehovah said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I forbade you to eat?” The man answered, “The woman whom thou didst give to me—she gave me fruit from the tree and I ate.” Jehovah said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman replied, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Then Jehovah said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you shall be hated more than all beasts. You shall crawl on your belly and eat dust all your life, and men and serpents shall always be enemies. They shall bruise your head, and you shall wound them on the heel.”

To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your trouble and your pain, and you shall be subject to your husband, and he shall rule over you.”

But to the man he said, “Because you have listened to your wife and have eaten of the tree from which I forbade you to eat, as long as you live you shall earn a living only by hard work. By hard work shall you raise food to eat. And you shall die and your body go back to the ground, for from dust you were made, and to dust you shall return!”

And Jehovah made garments of skins for the man and his wife, and clothed them. And he sent them out of the garden of Eden to till the ground. Sherman and Kent. The Children’s Bible

ADAM AND EVE.

God made the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth, the sea and all the beasts, birds, insects, plants and fishes. After that He made man, then woman. Adam was the first man, Eve the first woman. He planted a lovely garden and gave it to Adam and Eve to live in. There was every kind of luscious fruits in this garden and God was willing they should eat all but one; this He told them they must not even touch.

For a while they minded God and were happy, but one day they both ate some of this fruit. Then God was very angry and sorry for what they had done. He drove them out of the lovely garden forever.” Bible Pictures & Stories in Large Print.