Genesis 3

Genesis 3 read aloud, in a fresh direct translation from the Hebrew — plain modern English, nothing added. Translator's notes: • Genesis 3:1 — עָרוּם (arum): chose "cunning". Alternatives: "crafty", "shrewd", "prudent". Why: the same sound opens the chapter after the couple were "naked" (arumim) and unashamed at the end of chapter 2 — the Hebrew plays the two words against each other; "cunning" keeps the serpent's shrewdness on the shady side, as its speech bears out. • Genesis 3:8 — לְרוּחַ הַיּוֹם (leruach hayom): chose "in the breeze of the day". Alternatives: "in the cool of the day", "at the time of the evening breeze". Why: ruach is wind or breath; the phrase names the part of the day when a breeze comes, without fixing an hour the Hebrew does not name. • Genesis 3:15 — שׁוּף (shuf): chose "strike". Alternatives: "crush", "bruise", "snap at". Why: the verb occurs only here and twice elsewhere in poetry, and its exact force — a blow, a bite, a snapping — is not recoverable; "strike" says a hostile blow lands both ways without claiming more precision than the word gives. • Genesis 3:16 — תְּשׁוּקָה (teshuqah): chose "desire". Alternatives: "longing", "urge", "turning". Why: the rare word appears again for sin crouching at Cain's door in 4:7 and once in the Song of Songs for love's longing; "desire" holds that range without deciding the kind of desire for the reader.