Genesis 2:17

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.”

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וּמֵעֵ֗ץ הַדַּ֙עַת֙ ט֣וֹב וָרָ֔ע לֹ֥א תֹאכַ֖ל מִמֶּ֑נּוּ כִּ֗י בְּי֛וֹם אֲכָלְךָ֥ מִמֶּ֖נּוּ מ֥וֹת תָּמֽוּת׃

Transliteration

But-from-ʿēṣ haddaʿaṯ ṭôḇ wārāʿ lōʾ ṯōʾḵal mimmenû kî bəyôm ʾăḵālḵā mimmenû môṯ tāmûṯ

Grammar Details

• *ʿēṣ*: noun, masculine, singular construct - tree of
• *haddaʿaṯ*: definite article + noun, feminine, singular construct - the knowledge of
• *ṭôḇ*: adjective, masculine, singular - good
• *wārāʿ*: conjunction + adjective, masculine, singular - and evil
• *lōʾ*: negative particle - not
• *ṯōʾḵal*: Qal imperfect, 2nd singular masculine - you shall eat
• *mimmenû*: preposition + 3rd person masculine singular suffix - from it
• *kî*: conjunction - for/because
• *bəyôm*: preposition + noun, masculine, singular construct - in the day of
• *ʾăḵālḵā*: Qal infinitive construct + 2nd person masculine singular suffix - your eating
• *môṯ tāmûṯ*: Qal infinitive absolute + Qal imperfect, 2nd singular masculine - dying you shall die

Word Meanings

• *haddaʿaṯ ṭôḇ wārāʿ*: the knowledge of good and evil
• *ṯōʾḵal*: you shall eat/you may eat
• *bəyôm*: in the day/when
• *ʾăḵālḵā*: your eating/when you eat
• *môṯ tāmûṯ*: you shall surely die/you will certainly die [emphatic construction]

Referenced Verses

• Jas 1:15 : 15 Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death.
• Rom 6:23 : 23 For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• Gen 3:19 : 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.”
• Ezek 18:4 : 4 Indeed! All lives are mine– the life of the father as well as the life of the son is mine. The one who sins will die.
• Col 2:13 : 13 And even though you were dead in your transgressions and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, he nevertheless made you alive with him, having forgiven all your transgressions.
• 1 Tim 5:6 : 6 But the one who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives.
• Rev 20:14 : 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death– the lake of fire.
• Rev 21:8 : 8 But as for the cowards, unbelievers, detestable persons, murderers, the sexually immoral, and those who practice magic spells, idol worshipers, and all those who lie, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. That is the second death.”
• Rom 8:2 : 2 For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
• 1 Cor 15:22 : 22 For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
• 1 Cor 15:56 : 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
• Gal 3:10 : 10 For all who rely on doing the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written,“Cursed is everyone who does not keep on doing everything written in the book of the law.”
• Eph 2:1-6 : 1 New Life Individually And although you were dead in your offenses and sins, 2 in which you formerly lived according to this world’s present path, according to the ruler of the domain of the air, the ruler of the spirit that is now energizing the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest… 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 5 even though we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ– by grace you are saved!– 6 and he raised us up together with him and seated us together with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
• Gen 3:17 : 17 But to Adam he said,“Because you obeyed your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you,‘You must not eat from it,’ the ground is cursed because of you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
• Ezek 3:18-20 : 18 When I say to the wicked,“You will certainly die,” and you do not warn him– you do not speak out to warn the wicked to turn from his wicked lifestyle so that he may live– that wicked person will die for his iniquity, but I will hold you accountable for his death. 19 But as for you, if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wicked deed and from his wicked lifestyle, he will die for his iniquity but you will have saved your own life. 20 “When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I set an obstacle before him, he will die. If you have not warned him, he will die for his sin. The righteous deeds he performed will not be considered, but I will hold you accountable for his death.
• Ezek 18:32 : 32 For I take no delight in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!
• Ezek 33:8 : 8 When I say to the wicked,‘O wicked man, you must certainly die,’ and you do not warn the wicked about his behavior, the wicked man will die for his iniquity, but I will hold you accountable for his death.
• Ezek 33:14 : 14 Suppose I say to the wicked,‘You must certainly die,’ but he turns from his sin and does what is just and right.
• Rom 1:32 : 32 Although they fully know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.
• Rom 5:12-21 : 12 The Amplification of Justification So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned– 13 for before the law was given, sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sin when there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam until Moses even over those who did not sin in the same way that Adam(who is a type of the coming one) transgressed. 15 But the gracious gift is not like the transgression. For if the many died through the transgression of the one man, how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ multiply to the many! 16 And the gift is not like the one who sinned. For judgment, resulting from the one transgression, led to condemnation, but the gracious gift from the many failures led to justification. 17 For if, by the transgression of the one man, death reigned through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ! 18 Consequently, just as condemnation for all people came through one transgression, so too through the one righteous act came righteousness leading to life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of one man many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in so that the transgression may increase, but where sin increased, grace multiplied all the more, 21 so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
• Rom 6:16 : 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or obedience resulting in righteousness?
• Gen 2:9 : 9 The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food.(Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.)
• Gen 3:1-4 : 1 The Temptation and the Fall Now the serpent was more shrewd than any of the wild animals that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman,“Is it really true that God said,‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent,“We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard; 3 but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said,‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman,“Surely you will not die,
• Gen 3:11 : 11 And the LORD God said,“Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
• Gen 20:7 : 7 But now give back the man’s wife. Indeed he is a prophet and he will pray for you; thus you will live. But if you don’t give her back, know that you will surely die along with all who belong to you.”
• Num 26:65 : 65 For the LORD had said of them,“They will surely die in the wilderness.” And there was not left a single man of them, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.
• Deut 27:26 : 26 ‘Cursed is the one who refuses to keep the words of this law.’ Then all the people will say,‘Amen!’
• Deut 30:15 : 15 “Look! I have set before you today life and prosperity on the one hand, and death and disaster on the other.
• Deut 30:19 : 19 Today I invoke heaven and earth as a witness against you that I have set life and death, blessing and curse, before you. Therefore choose life so that you and your descendants may live!
• 1 Sam 14:39 : 39 For as surely as the LORD, the deliverer of Israel, lives, even if it turns out to be my own son Jonathan, he will certainly die!” But no one from the army said anything.
• 1 Sam 14:44 : 44 Saul said,“God will punish me severely if Jonathan doesn’t die!”
• 1 Sam 20:31 : 31 For as long as this son of Jesse is alive on the earth, you and your kingdom will not be established. Now, send some men and bring him to me. For he is as good as dead!”
• 1 Sam 22:16 : 16 But the king said,“You will surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s house!”
• 1 Kgs 2:37 : 37 If you ever do leave and cross the Kidron Valley, know for sure that you will certainly die! You will be responsible for your own death.”
• 1 Kgs 2:42 : 42 the king summoned Shimei and said to him,“You will recall that I made you take an oath by the LORD, and I solemnly warned you,‘If you ever leave and go anywhere, know for sure that you will certainly die.’ You said to me,‘The proposal is acceptable; I agree to it.’
• Eph 5:14 : 14 For everything made visible is light, and for this reason it says:“Awake, O sleeper! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you!”
• Rom 7:10-13 : 10 and I died. So I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death! 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it I died. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good. 13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.
• 1 John 5:16 : 16 If anyone sees his fellow Christian committing a sin not resulting in death, he should ask, and God will grant life to the person who commits a sin not resulting in death. There is a sin resulting in death. I do not say that he should ask about that.
• Rev 2:11 : 11 The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will in no way be harmed by the second death.’
• Rev 20:6 : 6 Blessed and holy is the one who takes part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
• Ezek 18:13 : 13 engages in usury and charges interest. Will he live? He will not! Because he has done all these abominable deeds he will certainly die. He will bear the responsibility for his own death.
• Jer 26:8 : 8 Jeremiah had just barely finished saying all the LORD had commanded him to say to all the people. All at once some of the priests, the prophets, and the people grabbed him and shouted,“You deserve to die!