The serpent, most shrewd
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Ὁ δὲ ὄφις ἦν φρονιμώτατος πάντων τῶν θηρίων τῶν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὧν ἐποίησεν Κύριος ὁ θεός· καὶ εἶπεν ὁ ὄφις τῇ γυναικί Τί ὅτι εἶπεν ὁ θεός Οὐ μὴ φάγητε ἀπὸ παντὸς ξύλου τοῦ παραδείσου;
The narrative pivots from the naming and pairing of chapter 2 to a new and unnamed actor: ὁ ὄφις, "the serpent," introduced with the same light connective (δέ) that opens a new scene. φρονιμώτατος is the superlative of φρόνιμος, "sensible, prudent, shrewd" — the very adjective Jesus later uses at Matt 10:16, "be shrewd as serpents." The serpent's first move is a small, devastating distortion: God's actual command (2:16-17, eat freely of every tree save one) becomes in its mouth "you shall not eat from any tree of the garden" — a true report and a false one differing by the placement of one negative.
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