Genesis Genesis 21:1–34
Genesis 21 opens with the verb that will become the canon's word for divine intervention and closes with the divine epithet that will become the canon's word for God's eternity. Between them the narrator stages a birth, an expulsion, a wilderness rescue, a seven-fold oath, and a tamarisk planted at a well. Sarah speaks the Edenic expulsion-verb in the imperative; Yahweh ratifies her. God opens Hagar's eyes the way Eden's were opened, but to a well of water this time. The chapter is built as the Akedah's dress rehearsal, and two of its verses become the most exact verbatim citations of Genesis in the New Testament.
Genesis 3:1–24
Gen 3 inverts every gift of Gen 2. The wisdom-word turns weaponized, the first command becomes the first lie by one negative particle, the man who was charged to guard the garden is replaced by cherubim guarding the way back — and in the middle of the judgment, a promise: the woman's seed will crush the serpent's head.