But the serpent said to the woman: But introduces a contrast between the woman’s answer that eating the fruit would result in death, and the snake’s claim that that is not so.

You will not die: You is second person plural in Hebrew, referring to the woman and the man. The construction of this phrase is literally “dying you [plural] will not die,” which may be translated in English “It is not really so that you will die,” or “Certainly, you won’t die,” or “Of course not; you won’t die.” See 2.16-17 for a similar construction. In this case again it will be natural in some languages to begin the speech with the word “No!” Two examples of this are, “No! You-two will not die,” and “No! That’s not true. You-two won’t….” In one rendering the snake’s denial of the truth of what God has said is expressed as “God is telling a lie. You won’t die.”

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 .