Genesis 3:16-19

16 And he said to the woman, "I will increase your trouble in pregnancy and your pain in giving birth. In spite of this, you will still have desire for your husband, yet you will be subject to him."

17 And he said to the man, "You listened to your wife and ate the fruit which I told you not to eat. Because of what you have done, the ground will be under a curse. You will have to work hard all your life to make it produce enough food for you. ¹

18 It will produce weeds and thorns, and you will have to eat wild plants.

19 You will have to work hard and sweat to make the soil produce anything, until you go back to the soil from which you were formed. You were made from soil, and you will become soil again."

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. 3.17, 18Hebrews 6.8.