“knowing good and evil”
NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV) & KING JAMES VERSION (KJV)
TRANSLATION, MEANING, CONTEXT
WORDS OF GOD IN RED
The New International Version (NIV) of this verse says ‘And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”’
To get what Genesis 3:22 means in detail, scroll down or follow these links for the original scriptural meaning , biblical context and relative popularity.
“And the Lord God said, 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:”
What does this verse really mean? Use this table to get a word-for-word translation of the original Hebrew Scripture. This shows the English words related to the source biblical texts along with brief definitions. Follow the buttons in the right-hand column for detailed definitions and verses that use the same root words. Use this reference information to gain deeper insight into the Bible and enrich your understanding. Information based on Strong's Exhaustive Concordance[1].
| KJV Verse | Original Hebrew | Meaning/ Definition This is a simplified translation of the original Hebrew word. Follow the buttons on the right to get more detail. | More Use the buttons below to get details on the Hebrew word and view related Bible verses that use the same root word. |
|---|---|---|---|
| “And the Lord” | יְהוָ֣ה | (the) self-Existent or Eternal; Jeho-vah, Jewish national name of God | Lord |
| “God” | אֱלֹהִ֗ים | Gods in the ordinary sense; but specifically used (in the plural thus, especially with the article) of the supreme God; occasionally applied by way of deference to magistrates; and sometimes as a superlative | God |
| “said,” | וַיֹּ֣אמֶר׀ | To say (used with great latitude) | said |
| “Behold,” | הֵ֤ן | Lo!; also (as expressing surprise) if | Behold |
| “the man” | הָֽאָדָם֙ | Ruddy i.e., a human being (an individual or the species, mankind, etc.) | man |
| “is become” | הָיָה֙ | To exist, i.e., be or become, come to pass (always emphatic, and not a mere copula or auxiliary) | become |
| “as one” | כְּאַחַ֣ד | Properly, united, i.e., one; or (as an ordinal) first | one |
| “of” | מִמֶּ֔נּוּ | Properly, a part of; hence (prepositionally), from or out of in many senses | of |
| “us, to know” | לָדַ֖עַת | To know (properly, to ascertain by seeing); used in a great variety of senses, figuratively, literally, euphemistically and inferentially (including observation, care, recognition; and causatively, instruction, designation, punishment, etc.) | know |
| “good” | ט֣וֹב | Good (as an adjective) in the widest sense; used likewise as a noun, both in the masculine and the feminine, the singular and the plural (good, a good or good thing, a good man or woman; the good, goods or good things, good men or women), also as an adverb (well) | good |
| “and evil:” | וָרָ֑ע | Bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) | evil |
| “and now,” | וְעַתָּ֣ה׀ | At this time, whether adverb, conjunction or expletive | now |
| “lest” | פֶּן | Properly, removal; used only (in the construction) adverb as conjunction, lest | lest |
| “he put forth” | יִשְׁלַ֣ח | To send away, for, or out (in a great variety of applications) | put forth |
| “his hand,” | יָד֗וֹ | A hand (the open one [indicating power, means, direction, etc.], in distinction from H3709, the closed one); used (as noun, adverb, etc.) in a great variety of applications, both literally and figuratively, both proximate and remote [as follows] | hand |
| “and take” | וְלָקַח֙ | To take (in the widest variety of applications) | take |
| “also” | גַּ֚ם | Properly, assemblage; used only adverbially also, even, yea, though; often repeated as correl. both...and | also |
| “of the tree” | מֵעֵ֣ץ | A tree (from its firmness); hence, wood (plural sticks) | tree |
| “of life,” | הַֽחַיִּ֔ים | Alive; hence, raw (flesh); fresh (plant, water, year), strong; also (as noun, especially in the feminine singular and masculine plural) life (or living thing), whether literally or figuratively | life |
| “and eat,” | וְאָכַ֖ל | To eat (literally or figuratively) | eat |
| “and live” | וָחַ֥י | To live; causatively to revive | live |
| “for ever:” | לְעֹלָֽם׃ | Properly, concealed, i.e., the vanishing point; generally, time out of mind (past or future), i.e., (practically) eternity; frequentatively, adverbial (especially with prepositional prefix) always | ever |
See Genesis 3:22 with its adjacent verses in bold below. Follow either of the two large buttons below to see these verses in their broader context of the King James Bible or a Bible concordance.
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20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
22 And the Lord God said, 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:
23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
The King James Bible (1611) and Strong's Concordance (1890) with Hebrew and Greek dictionaries are sourced from the BibleForgeDB database (https://github.com/bibleforge) within the BibleForge project (http://bibleforge.com). Popularity rankings are based on search volume data from the Google AdWords Keyword Planner tool.