Passage

Genesis 3.11

Book: Genesis · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

9. And Jehovah God called unto the man, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10. And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

11. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13. And Jehovah God said unto the woman, What is this thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. (Genesis 3:9-13, ASV)

WEB

9. Yahweh God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10. The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”

11. God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13. Yahweh God said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:9-13, WEB)

KJV

9. And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? 10. And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.

11. And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 13. And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat. (Genesis 3:9-13, KJV)

YLT

9. And Jehovah God calleth unto the man, and saith to him, 'Where [art] thou?' 10. and he saith, 'Thy sound I have heard in the garden, and I am afraid, for I am naked, and I hide myself.'

11. And He saith, 'Who hath declared to thee that thou [art] naked? of the tree of which I have commanded thee not to eat, hast thou eaten?'

and the man saith, 'The woman whom Thou didst place with me, she hath given to me of the tree, and I do eat.' 13. And Jehovah God saith to the woman, 'What [is] this thou hast done?' and the woman saith, 'The serpent hath caused me to forget, and I do eat.' (Genesis 3:9-13, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Jehovah God.
Audience: the man, who has just said, "I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself" (Genesis 3:10).
Location: the garden of Eden, where God walks "in the cool of the day" (Genesis 3:8).
Time period: immediately after the eating, before the curses (Genesis 3:14-19).

Theological reading

Nobody told them. The question answers itself. One chapter earlier, "they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed" (Genesis 2:25). Their bodies did not change when they ate; their consciences did. The shame came from within, which is the point of the question: no outside voice was needed for Adam to know he had done wrong.

Questions that invite confession. The God who calls "Where art thou?" (Genesis 3:9) is not gathering information. He gives the man room to come clean, then names the deed plainly: "Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?"

Hiding, then blaming. Adam answers with blame, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree", implicating God Himself, and the woman blames the serpent (Genesis 3:12-13). Sin produces both shame and the reflex to shift guilt, a portrait of human nature the narrative draws without comment.

The serpent's promise, fulfilled in reverse. The serpent promised open eyes (Genesis 3:5). Their eyes were opened, and they saw only their nakedness.

Two coverings. The man and woman made their own covering of fig leaves (Genesis 3:7); God replaced it: "Jehovah God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins, and clothed them" (Genesis 3:21). The human covering fails and the divine one, which cost a life, succeeds. The prophets carry the image forward: "he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness" (Isaiah 61:10).

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
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Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Lexicon:

H0120 - adam, via Genesis 3.1-24

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.