The sentences on the woman, the man, and the ground (Genesis 3:16–19)
Says Only the serpent and the ground are called אָרוּר, cursed; the man and the woman are not. To the woman God says he will greatly increase עִצְּבוֹנֵךְ וְהֵרֹנֵךְ, your pain and your conception; the BSB has your pain in childbirth. The BSB has Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. תְּשׁוּקָה occurs only here, Genesis 4:7 and Song 7:10. To the man, addressed וּלְאָדָם, the ground is cursed בַּעֲבוּרֶךָ, because of you; the BSB has And to Adam and through toil. He will return to the ground, for dust he is. See the Hebrew notes.
Implies The death threatened in 2:17 is carried out in the return to dust (3:19) and in 5:5, as the notes on Genesis 2 and on Romans 5 read it. God is the one who subjected the creation (Romans 8:20); see the notes on Romans 8.
Uncertain What the desire is, and whether he will rule over you describes what will happen or states an order now appointed, are treated in the Hebrew note; Keil reads the desire as a craving “bordering upon disease” and the rule as not meant to become despotic. No lean is taken here, and no application is drawn. Whether bodily death would have come without the trespass is not settled in Genesis 3 alone. Psalm 82:7 is read in the notes on that psalm as like mortals, with like Adam named as the alternative; that lean is not reopened here.
Claims
- SaysOnly the serpent and the ground are called cursed; the man and the woman are not. To the woman God increases pain and conception, which the BSB renders as pain in childbirth; desire and rule follow. To the man the ground is cursed because of you; he will return to the ground, for dust he is.
- ImpliesThe death threatened in 2:17 is carried out in the return to dust (3:19) and in 5:5, as the notes on Genesis 2 and on Romans 5 read it. God is the one who subjected the creation (Romans 8:20).
- UncertainWhat the desire is, and whether he will rule describes what will happen or states an order now appointed, are treated in the Hebrew note; Keil reads the desire as a craving and the rule as an order not meant to be despotic. No lean is taken here, and no application is drawn. Whether bodily death would have come without the trespass is not settled in Genesis 3 alone. The Psalm 82 lean is not reopened.
Citations
- BSB public domain Gen 3:1–24
- OSHB CC BY 4.0 Gen 3:1–24 (WLC/OSHB), cantillation removed
- LXX (Swete) CC BY-SA 4.0 Gen 3:1–24, vol. 1, pp. 4–6 (oldtestamentingr01swetuoft, viewer leaves n35–n37); Swete numbers ENG 2:25 as 3:1a and ENG 3:1 as 3:1b; read on the page images
- Keil–Delitzsch, Pentateuch 1 public domain Keil, Pentateuch vol. 1 (Clark, Martin trans., 1868), on Gen 3:16, p. 103 (n106); read on the page image; “bordering upon disease” quoted, otherwise paraphrased
Quotations from LXX (Swete) are used under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Credits
2026-11-10
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