Genesis 3:9-11

3:9 But the Lord God called to ¹  the man and said to him, “Where are you?” ²  3:10 The man replied, ³  “I heard you moving about ⁴  in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” 3:11 And the Lord God ⁵  said, “Who told you that you were naked? ⁶  Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” ⁷ 

¹ tn The Hebrew verb קָרָא (qara’, “to call”) followed by the preposition אֶל־ or לְ (’el- or lÿ, “to, unto”) often carries the connotation of “summon.”

² sn Where are you? The question is probably rhetorical (a figure of speech called erotesis) rather than literal, because it was spoken to the man, who answers it with an explanation of why he was hiding rather than a location. The question has more the force of “Why are you hiding?”

³ tn Heb “and he said.”

⁴ tn Heb “your sound.” If one sees a storm theophany here (see the note on the word “time” in v. 8), then one could translate, “your powerful voice.”

⁵ tn Heb “and he said.” The referent (the Lord God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁶ sn Who told you that you were naked? This is another rhetorical question, asking more than what it appears to ask. The second question in the verse reveals the Lord God’s real concern.

⁷ sn The Hebrew word order (“Did you from the tree – which I commanded you not to eat from it – eat?”) is arranged to emphasize that the man’s and the woman’s eating of the fruit was an act of disobedience. The relative clause inserted immediately after the reference to the tree brings out this point very well.