Genesis 3:16-24

16 To the woman he said, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; ¹in pain you shall bring forth children. ²Your desire shall be for^[a] your husband, and he shall ³rule over you."

17 And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree ⁴of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' ⁵cursed is the ground because of you; ⁶in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.

19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; ⁷for you are dust, and ⁸to dust you shall return."

20 The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.^[b]

21 And the LORD God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

22 Then the LORD God said, ⁹"Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand ¹⁰and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever--"

23 therefore the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden ¹¹to work the ground from which he was taken.

24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the ¹²cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Genesis 3:16-24 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. [John 16:21]
• 2. Genesis 4:7; Song of Songs 7:10
• 3. 1 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Corinthians 14:34; Ephesians 5:22-24; Colossians 3:18; 1 Timothy 2:11, 12; Titus 2:5; 1 Pet. 3:1, 5, 6
• 4. Genesis 2:17
• 5. Genesis 5:29; [Romans 8:20-22]
• 6. Ecclesiastes 2:22, 23
• 7. Genesis 2:7; Psalms 103:14
• 8. Job 34:15; Psalms 104:29; Ecclesiastes 3:20; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Romans 5:12
• 9. ver. 5
• 10. Genesis 2:9
• 11. Genesis 2:5
• 12. Psalms 18:10; Psalms 104:4; Hebrews 1:7; [Exodus 25:18-22; Ezekiel 28:11-16]

Footnotes

• [a]. Or against
• [b]. Eve sounds like the Hebrew for life-giver and resembles the word for living