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Hebrew Bible · Genesis 3:22

'Lest he… live for ever'

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ReferenceGenesis 3:22
Writtenc. 900–500 BCE
SetEden
Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever.

Translation: KJV

Read it literally

'One of us' again. Humans are deliberately kept from long life, the same thing that happens to Adapa in Babylon.

What scholars say

Read as a story about human limits.

Council of gods Strange time Looks like technology
People and places hereBabylon

Quick answers about Genesis 3:22

Where is Genesis 3:22 found?

Genesis 3:22 (Hebrew Bible). Translation quoted: King James Version (1611; standard 1769 text), with Apocrypha.

When was Genesis 3:22 written?

c. 900–500 BCE.

What do scholars say about Genesis 3:22?

Read as a story about human limits.

Rabbit holes in this passage

PersonAdapaA wise man was offered the bread and water of eternal life in heaven and refused, on his own god's advice. The best copy of his story was dug up in Egypt, in the royal archive of Akhenaten; scholars still debate whether Ea's advice was an honest mistake or a deliberate trick. What really happened in that hall?

Sources

  1. King James Version (1611; standard 1769 text), with ApocryphaPrimary text
  2. Adapa and the Food of Life, trans. R. W. Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament (1912)Primary text

Scholarly dates are rounded. The wording follows the named public-domain translation.

Updated