Genesis 3:18

Thornes also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee: and thou shalt eate the herbe of the field.
- King James Version (1611) - View 1611 Bible Scan

"Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field;
- New American Standard Version (1995)

thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
- American Standard Version (1901)

Thorns and waste plants will come up, and the plants of the field will be your food;
- Basic English Bible

and thorns and thistles shall it yield thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.
- Darby Bible

Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
- Webster's Bible

Thorns also and thistles will it bring forth to you; and you will eat the herb of the field.
- World English Bible

and thorn and bramble it doth bring forth to thee, and thou hast eaten the herb of the field;
- Youngs Literal Bible

Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field.
- Jewish Publication Society Bible

Wesley's Notes for Genesis 3:18

3:16 We have here the sentence past upon the woman; she is condemned to a state of sorrow and a state of subjection: proper punishments of a sin in which she had gratified her pleasure and her pride. She is here put into a state of sorrow; one particular of which only is instanced in, that in bringing forth children, but it includes all those impressions of grief and fear which the mind of that tender sex is most apt to receive, and all the common calamities which they are liable to. It is God that multiplies our sorrows, I will do it: God, as a righteous Judge, doth it, which ought to silence us under all our sorrows; as many as they are we have deserved them all, and more: nay, God as a tender Father doth it for our necessary correction, that we may be humbled for sin, and weaned from it. She is here put into a state of subjection: the whole sex, which by creation was equal with man, is for sin made inferior.

3:17 Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife - He excused the fault, by laying it on his wife, but God doth not admit the excuse; tho' it was her fault to persuade him to eat it, it was his fault to hearken to her. Cursed is the ground for thy sake - And the effect of that curse is, Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee - The ground or earth, by the sin of man, is made subject to vanity, the several parts of it being not so serviceable to man's comfort and happiness, as they were when they were made. Fruitfulness was its blessing for man's service, #Ge 1:11 |- 29, and now barrenness was its curse for man's punishment.

3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread - His business before he sinned was a constant pleasure to him; but now his labour shall be a weariness. Unto dust shalt thou return - Thy body shall be forsaken by thy soul, and become itself a lump of dust, and then it shall be lodged in the grave, and mingle with the dust of the earth.

3:20 God having named the man, and called him Adam, which signifies red earth, he in farther token of dominion named the woman, and called her Eve - That is, life. Adam bears the name of the dying body, Eve of the living soul. The reason of the name is here given, some think by Moses the historian, others by Adam himself, because she was - That is, was to be the mother of all living. He had called her Isha, woman, before, as a wife; here he calls her Evah, life, as a mother. Now, 1. If this was done by divine direction, it was an instance of God's favour, and, like the new naming of Abraham and Sarah, it was a seal of the covenant, and an assurance to them, that notwithstanding their sin, he had not reversed that blessing wherewith he had blessed them, Be fruitful and multiply: it was likewise a confirmation of the promise now made, that the seed of the woman, of this woman, should break the serpent's head. 2. If Adam did of himself, it was an instance of his faith in the word of God.