The man has confessed to his nakedness but has said nothing about his disobedience. Therefore God pursues the questioning.

Who told you that you were naked? may have to be expressed in the present: “… that you are naked.” Some translators may have problems with the form of this question, since it does not state directly what God is really asking, namely, “How did you find out that you were naked?” The word told in this context actually means “spoke to you so that you found out.” See also comments on “knew that they were naked” in Gen 3.7. A restructuring used in one translation to make the sense of this verse clearer is “God asked him, ‘How did you know that you were naked? Who told you? Have you eaten…?’ ”

Have you eaten of the tree…? is often better translated “Did you eat the fruit of the tree…?” or “Did you eat some of the fruit of the tree…?”

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 .