IL Archive The name that crossed millennia
EN

Independent research archive Texts · Ideas · Civilizations

Menu

Entity

Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil

A reference page linking a name, group, or concept to the materials that discuss it.

The tree forbidden in Genesis 2:17 and discussed by the serpent before the eating in Genesis 3; it is not the tree of life.

Modern conceptual illustration juxtaposing Gilgamesh’s water-borne plant with two trees in Genesis’s garden. It depicts no excavated artifact and does not establish identical stories. © IL Archive, CC0
Modern conceptual illustration juxtaposing Gilgamesh’s water-borne plant with two trees in Genesis’s garden. It depicts no excavated artifact and does not establish identical stories. © IL Archive, CC0Modern conceptual illustration: IL Archive / CC0 · CC0

Text

Genesis 2:16–17 forbids eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. In 3:1–5 the serpent makes that tree the subject of its claim about opened eyes and knowledge. After the pair eat, the ending distinguishes acquired knowledge from the still separate tree of lifeTree of Life in GenesisA tree distinct from the knowledge tree in Genesis 2–3; after the other tree is eaten, the way to it is guarded lest humans eat and live forever.Glossary · Click to read the explanation, whose path is then guarded. The two trees should not be merged. [2][3]

References and notes

  1. Genesis 2 in Hebrew with parallel JPS translation; the chapter was read, especially verses 9 and 16–17. Genesis 2, Hebrew/JPS parallel, especially 2:9 and 2:16–17 Return to the text ↑
  2. Genesis 3 in Hebrew with parallel JPS translation; the chapter was read, especially verses 1–7 and 22–24. Genesis 3, Hebrew/JPS parallel, especially 3:1–7 and 3:22–24 Return to the text ↑

Research history

Substantive changes are retained here. Minor copy edits remain in the internal operational log.

  1. Edition 2 · 12 October 2026 · editor:aladmin

    Substantive record update

    Read this revision in its original language (Arabic)

Suggest a correction · Suggest a source for this record

Cite this record

IL Archive, «Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil», Edition 2, https://ilarchive.com/en/entities/tree-of-knowledge-genesis