In this verse the woman recognizes three advantages in the forbidden tree: the fruit is good, the tree is beautiful, and eating would make her wise. So without further discussion with the snake she takes some fruit and eats it.

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food: So marks the following clause as introducing a consequence. Revised Standard Version structures the first part of verse 6 as a “when” clause with three “that” clauses, which in English stylistically overload the front end of the long sentence. Good News Translation, on the other hand, makes three sentences. Translators may find that verse 6 needs to be further restructured into shorter sentences. For example,

• The woman saw how beautiful the tree was, and how good the fruit would be to eat. She thought, “How wonderful it would be to become wise.” Because she was thinking this, she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, and he also ate it.

Good News Translation is like this model in switching the order of the first two clauses to give a better English style.

The tree was good for food refers to the fruit of the tree, as in 2.9. For delight to the eyes see the similar “pleasant to the sight” in 2.9, which is also another way of saying “beautiful” (Good News Translation).

The tree was to be desired to make one wise is a close literal translation of the Hebrew, in which was to be desired represents a passive participle. In some languages this will be more clearly rendered “a person desires the fruit of the tree because [eating] it makes that person become wise.” New English Bible says “tempting to contemplate,” and Bible en français courant “and they [the fruits] gave [the person] an urge to eat in order to acquire a broader knowledge.” Wise translates a word meaning “insight, understanding.”

After the woman had eaten she also gave some to her husband. Husband translates the word for “man” in 2.23 and is here grammatically possessed.

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 .