Genesis 3:6
וַתֵּרֶא הָֽאִשָּׁה כִּי טוֹב הָעֵץ לְמַאֲכָל וְכִי תַֽאֲוָה־הוּא לָעֵינַיִם וְנֶחְמָד הָעֵץ לְהַשְׂכִּיל וַתִּקַּח מִפִּרְיוֹ וַתֹּאכַל וַתִּתֵּן גַּם־לְאִישָׁהּ עִמָּהּ וַיֹּאכַֽל׃
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַתֵּ֣רֶא הָֽאִשָּׁ֡ה כִּ֣י טוֹב֩ הָעֵ֨ץ לְמַאֲכָ֜ל וְכִ֧י תַֽאֲוָה־ה֣וּא לָעֵינַ֗יִם וְנֶחְמָ֤ד הָעֵץ֙ לְהַשְׂכִּ֔יל וַתִּקַּ֥ח מִפִּרְי֖וֹ וַתֹּאכַ֑ל וַתִּתֵּ֧ן גַּם־לְאִישָׁ֛הּ עִמָּ֖הּ וַיֹּאכַֽל׃
καὶ ἴδεν ἡ γυνὴ ὅτι καλὸν τὸ ξύλον εἰς βρῶσιν, καὶ ὅτι ἀρεστὸν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς ἰδεῖν καὶ ὡραῖόν ἐστιν τοῦ κατανοῆσαι, καὶ λαβοῦσα τοῦ καρποῦ αὐτοῦ ἔφαγεν· καὶ ἔδωκεν καὶ τῶ ἀνδρὶ αὐτῆς μετ’ αὐτῆς, καὶ ἔφαγον.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Vidit igitur mulier quod bonum esset lignum ad vescendum, et pulchrum oculis, aspectuque delectabile: et tulit de fructu illius, et comedit: deditque viro suo, qui comedit.
La mujer vio que el fruto del árbol era bueno para comer, y que tenía un aspecto encantador y era deseable para alcanzar sabiduría. Así que tomó un fruto y se lo comió. Luego le dio a su esposo, que estaba con ella, y él también comió.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y vió la mujer que el árbol era bueno para comer, y que era agradable á los ojos, y árbol codiciable para alcanzar la sabiduría; y tomó de su fruto, y comió; y dió también á su marido, el cual comió así como ella.
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Genesis 3:6 narrates the woman's perception of the tree as good, its fruit's consumption, and her giving it to her husband, who was with her, and he also ate. The verse is built as a chain of narrative verbs (vav-consecutive) reporting seeing, taking, eating, giving, and eating again.
Key words
- Te.re' ("she saw", H7200G) — qal narrative form; opens the sequence of actions performed by the woman.
- nech.Mad ("desirable/desired", H2530A) — niphal participle, a passive/reflexive form describing the tree as the object that produces desire, rather than an active agent.
- has.Kil ("make wise/act wisely", H7919A) — hiphil infinitive, a causative form: the tree is linked to producing insight or wisdom in whoever eats from it.
- ti.Kach ("she took", H3947G) and to.Khal ("she ate", H0398) — successive qal narrative verbs, each introduced by the narrative va- prefix, marking sequential action.
- 'i.yo.Khal ("he ate", H0398) — same verb as to.Khal but with masculine subject, closing the verse with the husband's parallel action.
What the text says
The verse is structured as a series of clauses joined by the narrative vav (H9001), which in Biblical Hebrew chains successive actions in sequence: "she saw... she took... she ate... she gave... he ate." This grammatical chaining presents the events as a continuous, linear sequence rather than as separate or simultaneous occurrences.
The perception clause uses two parallel ki ("that/if", H3588A) constructions: ki tov ha'etz lema'akhal ("that the tree was good for food") and ve-khi ta'avah-hu la'einayim ("and that it was a delight to the eyes"). A third quality is added through the niphal participle nechmad ("desirable", H2530A) modifying ha'etz ("the tree", H6086H), linked to the hiphil infinitive haskil ("to make wise", H7919A). The hiphil form indicates a causative action — the tree's desirability is tied to what eating it would cause: wisdom or insight.
The object of eating, piryo ("its fruit", H6529), appears with a construct form plus pronominal suffix, marking possession ("fruit of it"). The final clause, ve-immah ("with her", H5973A + suffix H9034), specifies the husband's proximity to the woman during the action, attached grammatically to ishah ("her husband", H0376H + suffix H9024).
Differences between versions
The LXX renders nechmad ... lehaskil as "ὡραῖόν ἐστιν τοῦ κατανοῆσαι" ("it is beautiful to perceive/understand"), shifting the causative "make wise" (hiphil) toward a verb of perception/understanding (κατανοῆσαι). The Vulgate renders the same phrase as "aspectuque delectabile" ("delightful to look upon"), omitting explicit reference to wisdom or understanding present in the Hebrew haskil (H7919A). The Hebrew mipiryo ("some of its fruit", partitive construction) contrasts with the Vulgate's "de fructu illius" (also partitive) and the LXX's "τοῦ καρποῦ αὐτοῦ" (genitive, without explicit partitive marker in translation, though "λαβοῦσα" can imply partaking).
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.