Genesis 3:2-3

"And the woman said unto the serpent, Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."

"God hath said ..." The glaring error on Eve's part is her mishandling of God's Word. She added to it, saying "neither shall ye touch it"; and the old Hebrew legend tells how the Tempter took advantage of it. The serpent is said to have taken the fruit and touched Eve with it, pointing out that no bad consequence came of it, thus reinforcing his argument that no evil would follow her eating of it. It is extremely dangerous to add to God's Word, and the eternal curse rests upon all who do so (Revelation 22:18,19).

But Eve did something else: she diminished God's Word. God had stated emphatically that death would be the consequence of eating of the forbidden fruit, but Eve changed this to "lest ye die," meaning that "ye might die." Thus, the groundwork for the Fall had already been laid through adding to and altering the Word of God.