meetBible › Old and New Testament
Eve
The first woman, who listened to the serpent and still heard a promise.
Old and New Testament · Primeval history · Genesis, 2 Corinthians · Also known as The first woman, Mother of all living
About Eve
Eve was made by God from Adam’s side, and Adam named her Eve, "because she was the mother of all living." In the garden the serpent asked, "Yea, hath God said…?" and told her she would not die. She saw that the fruit was good for food, pleasant to the eyes and "to be desired to make one wise," ate, and gave some to Adam. Even as God spoke judgement, he promised that her offspring would one day crush the serpent’s head. Outside Eden she became the mother of Cain, Abel and Seth.
The name Eve (Hebrew Chavvah) sounds like the word for "living." Genesis never says the fruit was an apple; that picture comes from much later art. Christians have long read God’s words to the serpent in Genesis 3:15 as the first hint of the gospel.
The story
Hath God said?
The serpent, "more subtil than any beast of the field," asked the woman, "Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" She answered that they could eat of the trees, except the one in the midst of the garden. "Ye shall not surely die," said the serpent.
Genesis 3:1-5
Pleasant to the eyes
"When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."
Genesis 3:6-7
A promise in the judgement
"The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat," Eve told God. God said to the serpent, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
Genesis 3:13-15
Mother of all living
"And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living." God clothed them both, and they left the garden.
Genesis 3:20-24
Another son
Eve bore Cain and said, "I have gotten a man from the LORD," then Abel. After Cain killed Abel, she bore another son: "For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew." She named him Seth.
Genesis 4:1-2; 4:25
Key moments
- Made from Adam’s side: "She shall be called Woman." (Genesis 2:22-23)
- The serpent’s question: "Yea, hath God said?" (Genesis 3:1)
- Eats the fruit: And gives it to Adam. (Genesis 3:6)
- The first promise: "It shall bruise thy head." (Genesis 3:15)
- Named Eve: "The mother of all living." (Genesis 3:20)
- Seth is born: "Another seed instead of Abel." (Genesis 4:25)
Questions about Eve
In meetBible these answers are given in Eve’s voice. They are written by hand and checked against Scripture.
Was the fruit an apple?
Genesis never names the fruit. It speaks of "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" and says only that the fruit was "good for food" and "pleasant to the eyes." The apple comes from later Western art and tradition, not from the text.
Why did you eat the fruit?
Scripture lists what I saw: "the tree was good for food, and… pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise." The serpent had told me, "Ye shall not surely die… ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil." When God asked me, I said, "The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." Paul later says the serpent deceived me "through his subtilty."
What did God promise after you disobeyed?
God said to the serpent, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Many Christians, from the early church on, have read this as the first promise of a Saviour who would defeat evil, and Paul writes that "the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly."
Connected people
Read it yourself
Start with Genesis 2–4.