Translation
And YHVH ELOHIM (read Adonai Elohim) made for ADAM and his wife tunics
Go to footnote numberof skin,
Go to footnote numberand He clothed
Go to footnote numberthem. (See comment below.)
Paraphrase
Then THE ETERNAL AND PERSONAL GOD who is also THE CREATOR AND OWNER OF ALL THINGS made long, loose fitting garments of skin for THE RED MAN MADE FROM DIRT and his wife, and He helped them clothe themselves in this new garb. (See comment below.)
Footnotes
1
These “tunics” seem, from what we can tell, to have covered most of the body, not just the reproductive organs situated in the midsection of the body. It also seems they were the same, or almost the same, for man and woman.
2: “skin”
God was actually the one to perform the first killing of a living being. I’m sure it pained Him to do so, but it was a price He was willing to pay to cover Adam and Eve’s shame.
We can hope that these were not the only two animals of that kind available. Rather we hope that enough time had gone by for babies to be born to those animals, or He chose an animal that was large enough for just the male’s skin to cover both Adam and Eve with a female that was already pregnant.
3: “He clothed them”
Notice that God did not leave them to their own devices to cover their shame. He did not say, “You got yourselves into this mess, you deal with it.” Instead He showed them how to cover their bodies in a proper way. This is the first example of grace in the Bible; they did not deserve such care and help, but God provided it anyway. Sin brought about a situation in which there were multiple negative aspects, and in order to resolve or remove any of them, another negative must be introduced, i.e. a price. This principle, that everything has a price tag, would figure prominently in the Law and in the New Covenant as well.
Why Animal skins rather than wool or cotton, etc.?
God could have made clothes for them using material that did not require death. He could have used things like wool, cotton, silk or linen. All of these materials require time to prepare, but so does skinning animals and cleaning the pelts carefully, then sewing them together. It appears that He chose animal skins in order to teach Adam and Eve that sin requires a sacrifice, and an acceptable sacrifice must include the shedding of blood, i.e. the giving of a life.