God accepts the man’s accusation of the woman and so asks her “What is this that you have done?” which is better rendered in English by Good News Translation “Why did you do that?” In many languages there are different words for “Why?” or different ways of expressing questions that begin with “Why?”—and in particular one of the words or forms accuses the person addressed of doing something wrong. In such cases it is appropriate to use the accusing “Why?” in this context. The Hebrew question may go beyond a “Why?” question; for example, “Tell me what happened” or “Tell me what you did.”

The woman said: said may be more appropriately translated “answered” or “replied.” Since the woman’s reply is in fact shifting the blame on to the snake, it will be appropriate in some languages to put this into words; for example, “But the woman blamed the snake, and said…” or “The woman said, ‘It wasn’t my fault. The snake….’ ”

The serpent beguiled me: for serpent see 3.1. Beguiled means “tricked, deceived, misled.” There is no indication in the Hebrew that the serpent cast a spell, bewitched, or otherwise clouded the woman’s mind by the use of magic. If the term considered in translation applies to deception through magic powers, it will be better to say, for example, “the serpent lied to me” or “the serpent did not tell me the truth.”

And I ate should be linked clearly as a consequence of the serpent’s deceit; for example, “so I ate the fruit,” or “that is why I ate some of the fruit.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .