Genesis 3:17-18

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.

Genesis 3:17-18 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 7

  • 1. S Genesis 2:17
  • 2. Genesis 5:29; Numbers 35:33; Psalms 106:39; Isaiah 24:5; Jeremiah 3:1; Romans 8:20-22
  • 3. Genesis 6:13; Genesis 8:21; Isaiah 54:9
  • 4. Genesis 29:32; Genesis 31:42; Exodus 3:7; Psalms 66:11; Psalms 127:2; Ecclesiastes 1:13
  • 5. Genesis 47:9; Job 5:7; Job 7:1; Job 14:1; Ecclesiastes 2:23; Jeremiah 20:18
  • 6. Job 31:40; Isaiah 5:6; Hebrews 6:8
  • 7. Psalms 104:14
Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.