And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
English Standard Version (ESV)
This verse reveals a profound act of divine compassion: God Himself makes garments for Adam and Eve. This wasn't just about providing clothing; it signifies God taking on the burden of their sin and shame, symbolizing the covering that Christ would eventually provide.
And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Following their fall and realization of their nakedness, Adam and Eve tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. But God, demonstrating both His justice in their punishment and His mercy through provision, made more durable garments for them from animal skins. This act symbolizes their mortality and the need for sacrifice, foreshadowing the greater sacrifice to come.
After Adam and Eve's fall, they tried to cover their shame with leaves. But God had a different, more profound plan for their covering.
God Himself steps in to provide for Adam and Eve. He makes them garments of skins. This act is deeply significant, pointing beyond mere physical covering.
A Deeper Meaning
The fig leaves Adam and Eve used were a symbol of their own inadequate efforts. The skins God provided speak of a very different story.
The act of God making garments of skins is more than just practical.
A Symbolic Shift
Ask a follow-up
Understand the original words
YHWH · Hebrew Proper Noun
The personal, covenant-keeping name of God in the Old Testament, representing His self-existence, holiness, and redemptive relationship with His people.
Adam · Hebrew Proper Noun
In this context, it refers to the first human being, though the term also functions as the generic word for 'man' or 'mankind' throughout Scripture. It highlights humanity's origin from the 'ground' (adamah).
owr · Hebrew Noun
An animal hide or pelt; biblically significant as the first instance of God providing a covering for human shame, prefiguring the necessity of sacrifice for atonement.
This verse marks the immediate aftermath of humanity's fall, illustrating God's protective care and foreshadowing the need for atonement through sacrifice, even in the face of sin and judgment.
c. 4000 BC
Creation of Adam and Eve
God creates Adam and Eve, placing them in the Garden of Eden with specific instructions and a prohibition against eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
c. 4000 BC— this verse
The Fall of Humanity
Tempted by the serpent, Adam and Eve disobey God's command by eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
c. 4000 BC
God Makes Garments of Skin
Immediately after their sin, God makes garments of skin for Adam and Eve, signifying the need for a sacrifice to cover their sin and a reminder of mortality.
c. 4000 BC
Expulsion from Eden
God banishes Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden to prevent them from eating from the Tree of Life and living in their fallen state forever.
c. 4000 BC
Institution of Sacrifice
The creation of garments from animal skins implies the death of animals, understood by many theologians as the earliest institution of sacrifice as a symbol of atonement.
This passage explains that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins, which connects to the idea that the animal skins used for Adam and Eve's clothing likely came from sacrificial animals, hinting at the need for atonement even after the fall.
John 1:29This verse identifies Jesus as the 'Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.' This foreshadows the sacrificial system hinted at in Genesis 3:21, where the slain animals point to Christ's ultimate sacrifice.
Isaiah 61:10The prophet Isaiah speaks of being clothed in garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness, mirroring the concept of God providing clothing for Adam and Eve that signifies God's provision and covering for humanity's sin.
Revelation 7:14This passage describes those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, connecting the idea of cleansing and new coverings to the blood of sacrifices that began in Eden and finds its ultimate fulfillment in Christ.
wesleyGenesis 3:21: "Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them."
3:21 These coats of skin had a significancy. The beasts whose skins they were, must be slain; slain before their eyes to shew them what death is. And probably 'tis supposed they were slain for sacrifice, to typify the great sacrifice which in the latter end of the world should be offered once for all. Thus the first thing that died was a sacrifice, or Christ in a figure.
calvinGenesis 3:1-24: "Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?"
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Porro serpens erat callidior omni bestia agri, quam fecerat Jehova Deus: et dixit ad mulierem, Etiamne dixit…
This verse reveals a profound act of divine compassion: God Himself makes garments for Adam and Eve. This wasn't just about providing clothing; it signifies God taking on the burden of their sin and shame, symbolizing the covering that Christ would eventually provide.
Following their fall and realization of their nakedness, Adam and Eve tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. But God, demonstrating both His justice in their punishment and His mercy through provision, made more durable garments for them from animal skins. This act symbolizes their mortality and the need for sacrifice, foreshadowing the greater sacrifice to come.
Following their fall and realization of their nakedness, Adam and Eve tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. But God, demonstrating both His justice in their punishment and His mercy through provision, made more durable garments for them from animal skins. This act symbolizes their mortality and the need for sacrifice, foreshadowing the greater sacrifice to come.
"And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them." — This verse reveals a profound act of divine compassion: God Himself makes garments for Adam and Eve. This wasn't just about providing clothing; it signifies God taking on the burden of their sin and…
Get the original Greek and Hebrew, verse-by-verse context, and related passages inside the app.
Last reviewed October 2026