A reading from the book of Genesis.

The Most High God called to the man, “Where are you?” “I heard the sound of You in the garden,” replied the man. “I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” “Who told you that you were naked?” the Creator asked. “Have you been eating of the tree whose fruit I forbade you to eat?” The man replied, “It was the woman you put me with; she gave me the fruit, and I ate it.” Then God asked the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman replied, “The serpent tempted me, and I ate.”

Then God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are accursed: lower than the cattle, lower than the wild beasts, you will crawl on your belly and eat dust every day of your life. I will make you enemies of each other, you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring. Her offspring will crush your head, and your offspring will strike hers in the heel.”

The Word of God recorded in the book of Genesis.