The serpent was more cunning: It spoke to the woman with wisdom and slyness.

Did God really say, etc.: Meaning to say, "Even though this garden is so beloved before the Holy One, blessed be He, such that He brought rivers to water it and commanded Adam to guard it - did He really say not to eat from its fruit?" The woman said to it, "'From the fruit of the trees of the Garden we may eat' (Genesis 3:2), and He did us [another] goodness: For he only prevented us from the tree of knowledge for our [own] good, lest we die. As He did not want to hurt us, since it is poison." He said to her, "Fool! He did not intend it for your good, it is not poison and you will not surely die if you eat from it. Rather He intended it for your detriment. As it is so good that He does not want you to eat from it. For if you eat from it, you will become wise and sly and you will become like the angels, to distinguish between good and evil, to be wise and sly and no mystery will baffle you. But He does not want you to reach the category of angels."

The woman saw that the tree was good for food: She began to observe it. She said, "How beautiful is this fruit; how sweet is its smell - it is certainly not like poison. Yet the Holy One did not command us not to eat from it for nothing." And the tree was desirable to her to contemplate; as she desired it, in order to contemplate. She said, "It appears that the serpent is speaking truth." So she ate it and gave it to her husband. And immediately slyness, pride, coarseness, jealousy, competition, covetousness and malice entered into them; to entrap and flatter, and to carry on in the dark, to rob and to steal. And they quickly began to say, "It is a disgrace for creatures like us to be 'baring buttocks' and revealing our nakedness." They made loincloths for themselves to cover their nakedness and they went out of the Garden to the breeze of the day, a place that there were no trees blocking the wind. As this is the way of thieves, to distance themselves from the the place in which they stole; meaning to say, "I was not even there." But while they were there sitting in the breeze of the day, they heard the 'voice of the Lord marching in the tops of the baca trees.' They said, "Behold the Master of the Garden has come"; so they were afraid and trembling - as is the way of a thief - and they hid. And that is the meaning of (Genesis 3:8), They heard the voice of the Lord God moving in the Garden to the breeze of the day - as they were there. Know that "to the breeze of the day," is referring to Adam. As it is written after it, and the man and his wife hid themselves [...] among the trees of the Garden - implying that at first, they were not in the Garden.

He said to him, "Where are you?" For this is the way of the Holy One, to speak like people to [other] people.

He said, "It was since, I heard Your voice in the Garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, etc.": He was afraid, lest He would ask him, "Why did you hide to escape," and He would become aware about his theft. Hence he gave Him a reason beforehand.

The Holy One said to him, "From your words, you are caught! How many times did I come to you and you were not concerned that you were naked." As it is written above (Genesis 2:25), "The two of them were naked." "But now you are concerned? Who told you that you were naked?" As only something that is fit for clothing, but does not have any, is called naked. It is not customary to say that a beast is naked, since it is not fit for clothing. For it is covered with the covering that is fit for it. And even great people who wear inferior clothing call themselves naked, because they do not have clothes that are fit for them. "And you also call yourself, naked" - meaning to say, that you are fit for clothes. "Who told you that you are fit for clothes? From the tree whereof, etc."

Once he saw that one cannot cover up before the One that knows all secrets, he confessed against his will and said, "The iniquity is not upon me, but rather upon the woman." The woman said, "The iniquity is upon the serpent." As this is the way of thieves - when they are caught, they give away one another. The serpent did not find an answer, for we do not [allow] an inciter to make a claim - as our Rabbis said (Sanhedrin 29a): As even though they should not have listened to him - for [in a case of] the words of the teacher and the words of the student, to whom does one listen - nevertheless, he should not have entrapped [them], as they transgressed the commandment of the Creator. And they all confessed that they transgressed - as the Holy One said to Adam, "Because you listened to the voice of your wife, (Genesis 3:17) more than [to] My voice." And all the more so, the woman should not have listened to the serpent, who was not her friend and advisor. Hence Scripture said to Adam, "Because you listened to the voice of your wife"; whereas it did not say to the woman, "Because you listened to the voice of the serpent." As it an a fortiori argument, so there is no need [to say it]. And the Holy One, blessed be He, began to curse them in the way that they did the transgression: The snake that started was cursed first, and Adam afterwards.

On your belly shall you crawl: It is the way for people that give evil counsel to each other, to have them separated from one another. Hence He said to the serpent, "'On your belly shall you crawl' - such that your mouth be placed on the land, whereas she will be erect, so that you will not have a place in which to take counsel with her. And dust shall you eat all the days of your life: Given that your mouth will be on the land, you will eat it against your will. And enmity will I put (Genesis 3:15):" This too is a distancing.

And to the woman He said, "How many evils have you caused yourself! Until now you didn't need to bear children, because you were not [destined] to die. But from now on, you will need to bear children, because you will surely die. If you don't give birth, the world will dissolve, since you will die. So therefore, 'I will increase [...] your pregnancy' - and that is 'your pain' - because 'in pain will you bear children.' For how much pain is there with children: The pain of pregnancy, the pain of birth and the pain of raising [them]. And don't fool yourself to say, 'I'll nullify the commandment of being fruitful, just as I nullified the commandment of the tree of knowledge, such that I won't sleep with my husband.'" That is why it is written, your longing will be for your husband - that you will desire him. And if you say, "I will conquer my impulse because of the pain" - it is hence stated and he will rule over you, so he will take you against your will.

And to Adam he said, "Given that you have eaten from the tree and the evil impulse has entered so greatly into you, there is no protection [from you] besides the knife." As if man was not afraid of death, he would rob, extort, abuse and destroy the world because of the evil impulse. Therefore He penalized him with death; and also [with] exertion, which 'causes iniquity to be forgotten.'

And that blessing that He blessed them on the sixth day, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 1:28), was after they were corrupted, such that reproduction was necessary. Know [that it is so], as it is written [there], "fill the earth and subdue it." And if it was before they were corrupted, He should have said, "fill the Garden," since that is where they resided before [this]. Rather that blessing was after they were corrupted, but it was written with the creation [earlier nevertheless].

Because she was the mother of all the living: And even though she was not the mother of the animals and the beasts, "mother" implies an expression of [being] a matron, as in (Judges 5:7), "I arose, a mother in Israel." And "father" is likewise an expression of lordship and authority, as in (Genesis 4:21), "the father of all who handle the lyre."

Garments of skins: That is to say, garments for the skin of their flesh; as no beast had yet been flayed. And likewise did Onkelos translate [it].