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Summary
- Genesis 2–3 does not say how long Adam and Eve stayed in the garden of Eden before the fall or before their expulsion.
- Genesis records the births of Cain, Abel and Seth after the expulsion, and says Adam was 130 when Seth was born (Genesis 5:3).
- The Book of Jubilees says they lived in the garden seven years before the serpent came, and left about six weeks after the sin (Jubilees 3:15–32).
- The Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 38b) places Adam’s creation, sin and expulsion on a single day; Augustine held that the sin came soon after Eve was created.
- The Catechism of the Catholic Church gives no length for the stay and says Genesis 3 “uses figurative language, but affirms a primeval event.”
- Adam lived 930 years (Genesis 5:5); Scripture gives no age for Eve.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Genesis 1:28; 2:8, 15–17, 19–22; 3:6, 23–24; 4:1–2, 16, 25; 5:3, 5–6; Psalm 49:12; 90:4; 1 Timothy 2:13; 2 Peter 3:8). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- Septuagint, Genesis 5:3 and 5:6, in The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament, translated by Sir Lancelot C. L. Brenton (1844). https://ebible.org/eng-Brenton/GEN05.htm
- The Book of Jubilees 3:9, 3:15, 3:17, 3:32, 3:34, 4:29–30. Translated by R. H. Charles, in The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913. https://www.pseudepigrapha.com/jubilees/3.htm; verse numbers checked against https://wesley.nnu.edu/sermons-essays-books/noncanonical-literature/noncanonical-literature-ot-pseudepigrapha/the-book-of-jubilees/
- “Book of Jubilees.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Book-of-Jubilees
- Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 38b. William Davidson Edition, Sefaria. https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.38b
- Irenaeus of Lyon. Against Heresies, Book 5, chapter 23. Translated by Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut. In Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103523.htm
- Justin Martyr. Dialogue with Trypho, chapter 81. In Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/01286.htm
- Augustine of Hippo. De Genesi ad litteram (The Literal Meaning of Genesis), Book 9, 3.6–4.8. Latin text. https://www.augustinus.it/latino/genesi_lettera/genesi_lettera_09_libro.htm
- Augustine of Hippo. The City of God, Book 14, chapters 23 and 26. Translated by Marcus Dods. In Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 2. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120114.htm
- Thomas Aquinas. Summa Theologiae, First Part, question 98, article 1. Translated by the Fathers of the English Dominican Province. https://www.newadvent.org/summa/1098.htm
- Dante Alighieri. Paradiso, canto 26, lines 139–142. Translated by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Project Gutenberg eBook no. 1003. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1003
- Ussher, James. The Annals of the World. London, 1658. Early English Books Online, University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A64619.0001.001
- “James Ussher.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Ussher
- “Anno mundi.” Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/anno-mundi
- Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers, Genesis 2, note on verse 4. https://openbible.com/ellicott/genesis/2.htm
- Miller, Jeff. “How Long Were Adam and Eve in the Garden Before Sinning?” Apologetics Press, 1 February 2019. https://apologeticspress.org/how-long-were-adam-and-eve-in-the-garden-before-sinning-5652/
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997. Paragraphs 385–421, especially 390, 399 and 405. https://www.vatican.va/content/catechism/en/part_one/section_two/chapter_one/article_1/paragraph_7_the_fall.html
- The Quran 2:35–38, 7:19–25 and 20:115–123, Sahih International translation, read through the Al Quran Cloud API (edition en.sahih). https://alquran.cloud/api
- Sahih Muslim 854a, Book of Prayer – Friday. https://sunnah.com/muslim:854a
