Genesis 3:16-19

16 To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.

18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.

19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

Genesis 3:16-19 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 3

In this chapter an account is given of the temptation of our first parents, of the instrument of it, and of their fall into it, and of the effect of it, Ge 3:1-7 their summons upon it to appear before God, against whom they had sinned, Ge 3:8-10 their examination by him, and the excuses they made, Ge 3:11-13 the various sentences passed of the serpent, the woman, and the man, Ge 3:14-19 some incidental things recorded, expressive of faith and hope in man, and of favour to him, Ge 3:20,21 and his expulsion from the garden of Eden, Ge 3:22-24.

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 48:5-6; Isaiah 13:8; Isaiah 21:3; Isaiah 26:17; Jeremiah 4:31; Jeremiah 6:24; Micah 4:9; 1 Timothy 2:15
• 2. 1 Corinthians 11:3; Ephesians 5:22
• 3. S Genesis 2:17
• 4. Genesis 5:29; Numbers 35:33; Psalms 106:39; Isaiah 24:5; Jeremiah 3:1; Romans 8:20-22
• 5. Genesis 6:13; Genesis 8:21; Isaiah 54:9
• 6. Genesis 29:32; Genesis 31:42; Exodus 3:7; Psalms 66:11; Psalms 127:2; Ecclesiastes 1:13
• 7. Genesis 47:9; Job 5:7; Job 7:1; Job 14:1; Ecclesiastes 2:23; Jeremiah 20:18
• 8. Job 31:40; Isaiah 5:6; Hebrews 6:8
• 9. Psalms 104:14
• 10. Psalms 104:23
• 11. Genesis 14:18; Deuteronomy 8:3,9; Deuteronomy 23:4; Ruth 1:6; Ruth 2:14; 2 Thessalonians 3:10
• 12. S Genesis 2:7; S Job 7:21; S Psalms 146:4; Psalms 90:3; Psalms 104:29; Ecclesiastes 12:7; 1 Corinthians 15:47; Hebrews 9:27