There are four  things every Bible reader thinks they know about the story of the first woman:
 
1. Her name was Eve
2. She was created from man’s rib
3. She tempted the man to sin
4. She was told she would suffer pain in childbirth for her sin.
 
What many Bible readers do not know is that each one of these four points is debatable. For example, regarding the woman’s name as “Eve,” this is only true if – taking the story literally – God spoke to the first man and woman in Hebrew. That may or may not be true, of course, but we should remember that the woman was called Eve  – “Life” in Hebrew – because  she became the “mother of all living” only later as time progressed (Genesis 3:20).  In any case, archaeologically and linguistically we know that there are many languages older than Hebrew – which is actually somewhat of a “late-comer” among the known languages of the world. In a much older Sumerian (Mesopotamian) story, the god Enki unlawfully ate plants, and various parts of his body became diseased. A goddess who healed Enki's rib was called Ninti, whose name means “lady of the rib” or “lady of life” – evoking the story of Eve whose name means “life” and who was said to be created from the rib of Adam.
 
The creation of Eve from Adam’s rib is also another point of debate. We will not look at that here as the situation is complex and far from settled. But it is worth noting that other translations and understandings of Genesis 2:21–23  do exist.  Instead of focusing on this point we will look at the two others listed above (points 3 and 4), as these have doctrinal significance for our understanding of the message of Genesis 3.
 
As for Eve tempting Adam, we should remember first and foremost that the biblical account never actually uses the word “tempt.” Rather, it simply says that Eve took the forbidden fruit and ate it and “also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” (Genesis 3:6).  In this, the biblical story is actually very different from the ancient Mesopotamian story – found in the Epic of Gilgamesh – where the character Enkidu who lives in the “Edin” wilderness is seduced by a temple prostitute after which his wild animal companions reject him and he feels forced to leave the area of the Edin. Although the biblical account makes no mention of sex being the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden, some Christian traditions have interpreted it that way, while others reject the interpretation as having no biblical basis (see Genesis 1:28 – spoken before the forbidden fruit incident).
 
But perhaps most interesting of all – and most biblically significant – is the insubstantial nature of the idea that Eve was cursed, for her sin, to endure pain in childbirth.  In most translations we read something to the effect that “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing, in pain you shall bring forth children” (Genesis 3:16 ESV, etc.).  But the Hebrew word typically translated “pain” in this verse is actually the word for “work” or “toil” – the same Hebrew word used in the following verse when God tells the man “Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it.” (Genesis 3:17 NKJV, etc.). Interestingly, some translations – such as the NIV’s “with painful labor you will give birth” – try to straddle the fence with this verse by including the literal “labor” or “work” as well as the traditional rendering of “pain.”
 
Furthermore, the word translated “childbearing” in this verse in many Bible versions is actually the Hebrew word for “pregnancy.”  So a more literal reading of  the curse on the woman is that God told her “I will increase your toil and your pregnancies.” The punishment on the woman was not fundamentally different from that placed on the man – it was simply expressed in a different way.
 
In all – or at least the majority – of these ways we see that the story of Eve has been interpreted, translated, and understood by its readers in somewhat different ways to what the Bible actually says.

The book of Jeremiah contains a statement by the prophet that many find troubling: “Alas, Sovereign LORD! How completely you have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, ‘You will have peace,’ when the sword is at our throats!”  (Jeremiah 4:10).    On the face of it, this statement – which appears to accuse God of deception – contradicts what the Bible clearly teaches that God cannot and does not lie (Numbers 23:19; Hebrews 6:18; etc.).  But several explanations are possible to account for this apparent contradiction and we will look at them in turn.

First, it has been suggested that by a small change to the vowel points of one Hebrew word in this verse, the meaning can be better understood as “they shall say” (meaning the false prophets who had foretold peace – Jeremiah 6:14; 14:13; 23:17; etc.)  rather than Jeremiah himself being the speaker.  Viewed this way, the verse would mean that the false prophets were complaining to God that he had not brought about what they said he had predicted. This kind of irony – ridiculing the prophets who claimed to be speaking under inspiration from God – is certainly possible and would fit the context well, but there are other possible explanations that do not require any change to the biblical text.

It is possible that Jeremiah implies that God allowed the people of Judah to be deceived by the false prophets they themselves supported (Jeremiah 5:31). This seems to be the case in other situations such as that which we find mentioned in the book of Ezekiel: “And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the LORD, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel” (Ezekiel 14:9 ESV). This appears to also be the case in what the apostle Paul wrote: “For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie” (2 Thessalonians 2:11). From this perspective, God does not directly mislead his people, but permits others to do so, especially when it fits his purpose of allowing the rebellious people’s hearts to be hardened.

It is also possible that Jeremiah’s statement is  posed as a question rather than  a statement – in other words, the prophet is asking “How can it be, God, that you allow people to be deluded by false prophets?”  Viewed this way, Jeremiah is wondering or marveling out loud about the situation rather than making a critical statement. 
 
But there is a final and perhaps more likely possibility regarding the meaning of Jeremiah 4:10. Importantly, that verse is not the only passage where the prophet appears to emotionally accuse God of “deceit.”  In Jeremiah 20:7, using a synonymous word, Jeremiah states “You deceived me, LORD, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me” (see also Jeremiah 15:18; etc.).   So, if we accept the words of Jeremiah 4:10 at face value, it is possible that Jeremiah meant that he had received God’s earlier promises of the peace that would eventually come to God’s people (Jeremiah 3:14–18; etc.) without realizing that this peace would only come later, after Judah’s inevitable downfall. Seen this way, Jeremiah may simply have supposed the positive eventual outcome was closer than it really was.

It is easy to presume that the Old Testament prophets had a kind of divinely granted understanding so that they knew when and how the prophecies they were given would be fulfilled. But we should remember that this was not the case at all.  The apostle Peter reminds us that “This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you” (1 Peter 1:10-11 NLT) or, as the ESV translates this verse, the prophets were “trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing.”

So, in conclusion, while we may not know for sure which of the various possible meanings of Jeremiah 4:10 is the actual meaning of the verse, it is certain that there are several ways in which the verse can be understood without it contradicting other, clearer, biblical verses.  As is so often the case with difficult scriptures, Jeremiah 4:10 may seem confusing, but in reality, there is no reason why its intended meaning need be seen as not being in harmony with the rest of the Bible.