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While browsing Wikipedia's list of chapters for the Neon Genesis Evangelion manga, I noticed that some of the English volume titles were clearly derived from Biblical texts. For example:

She gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate (vol. 3)

This is probably taken from Genesis 3, when, after God finds out that the forbidden fruit has been consumed, Adam tries to pin the blame on Eve (v. 12).

As one of us, to know good and evil (vol. 7)

This is taken from later in the same chapter (v. 22), when God speaks of his decision to banish man from the Garden of Eden.

With this in mind, are all of the volume titles Biblical references, and if so, what exact passages are these quotes from?

Maroon
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1 Answers1

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I will go through the titles in the order of their respective volumes.

  1. Behold the angels of God descending: I couldn't find an exact match for this on the internet in a context that was about Bible and not Evangelion, but there is a partial match in Genesis 28:12, where in Jacob's dream, after he leaves home, "behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it [a ladder to heaven]."

  2. A flaming sword, which turned every way: Genesis 3:24, where cherubim and the flaming sword are placed to keep guard over the Garden of Eden, to prevent entry.

  3. She gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate: Genesis 3:12. Discussed in the text of the question.

  4. The woman whom thou gavest to be with me: Genesis 3:12. Adam's reference to Eve when he tries to blame her.

  5. If this be the work of men, it will come to naught: Acts 5:38, where Gamaliel argues against persecuting the Christians, with the reasoning that if the movement is illegitimate (i.e. "the work of men"), it will die out on its own, and that if the movement is in contrast "of God," then it will be successful either way, and its persecutors will have opposed God. The translation here, which I have been unable to identify, gives an exact match with the EVA title; translations such as the NRSV or KJV differ a bit from this wording.

  6. Let me go, for the day breaketh: Genesis 32:27, after Jacob has spent a night wrestling with a man, generally identified as an angel, or as God.

  7. As one of us, to know good and evil: Genesis 3:22. Discussed in the text of the question.

  8. Come now, let us make covenant, you and I: Genesis 31:44, where Jacob and his father-in-law, Laban, make a covenant. Jacob earlier left Laban, for whom he had worked many years, and Laban had pursued him.

  9. Tell me, I pray thee, thy name: Genesis 32:38, where Jacob asks for the name of the man with whom he has been wrestling.

  10. If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take other wives: Genesis 31:50, in Laban's conversation with Jacob.

  11. Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures: Job 3:21, where Job speaks after troubles arrive at his door.

  12. Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: this exactly matches the KJV translation of Ephesians 6:4, but similar themes appear elsewhere.

  13. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun: Revelation 12:1. I don't really understand the Book of Revelation, but this woman appears to be associated with the Virgin Mary or the Church.

  14. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new: Revelation 21:5. The man upon the throne appears to be Christ.

With all that aside, I've just finished reading vol. 10, and there seems to be (at least sometimes) a slight (if rather superficial) correspondence with the quote used for the volume title and the subject of the volume. For instance:

  • The two volumes with titles taken from Genesis 3:12 (which involves a woman) cover Asuka's arrival and interactions with Shinji.

  • Vol. 6, per the Wikipedia summary and my bad memory, is when Shinji is forced to fight Toji against his will, after Unit-03 is infected by an angel, which fits a quote about leaving a fight.

Maroon
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