Genesis 3:15

Genesis 3:15 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
• New International Version (NIV)And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
• English Standard Version (ESV)I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."
• New King James Version (NKJV)And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.”

Context of Genesis 3:15

13Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent beguiled and deceived me, and I ate [from the forbidden tree].” 14The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all the cattle, And more than any animal of the field; On your belly you shall go, And dust you shall eat All the days of your life. And I will put enmity (open hostility) Between you and the woman, And between your seed (offspring) and her Seed; He shall [fatally] bruise your head, And you shall [only] bruise His heel.” 16To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply Your pain in childbirth; In pain you will give birth to children; Yet your desire and longing will be for your husband, And he will rule [with authority] over you and be responsible for you.” 17Then to Adam the Lord God said, “Because you have listened [attentively] to the voice of your wife, and have eaten [fruit] from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’; The ground is [now] under a curse because of you; In sorrow and toil you shall eat [the fruit] of it All the days of your life.

Genesis 3:15 word by word

וְאֵיבָ֣ה׀ אָשִׁ֗ית בֵּֽינְךָ֙ וּבֵ֣ין הָֽאִשָּׁ֔ה וּבֵ֥ין זַרְעֲךָ֖ וּבֵ֣ין זַרְעָ֑הּ ה֚וּא יְשׁוּפְךָ֣ רֹ֔אשׁ וְאַתָּ֖ה תְּשׁוּפֶ֥נּוּ עָקֵֽב׃ סRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And I will putשִׁיתshîyth · to set: putH7896
• enmityאֵיבָה'êybâh · enmityH342
• between thee and the womanאִשָּׁה'ishshâh nâshîym · womanH802
• and between thy seedזֶ֫רַעzera‛ · seed: childrenH2233
• it shall bruiseשׁוּףshûph · to bruiseH7779
• thy headרֹאשׁrô'sh · headH7218
• his heelעָקֵב‛âqêb ‛iqqebâh · heelH6119

Cross-references for Genesis 3:15

• Numbers 21:6Then the Lord sent fiery (burning) serpents among the people; and they bit the people, and many Israelites died.
• Amos 9:3Though they hide on the summit of [Mount] Carmel, I will track them down and take them from there; And though they hide from My sight on the floor of the sea, From there I shall command the serpent and it will bite them.
• Mark 16:18they will pick up serpents, and if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will get well.”
• Luke 10:19Listen carefully: I have given you authority [that you now possess] to tread on serpents and scorpions, and [the ability to exercise authority] over all the power of the enemy (Satan); and nothing will [in any way] harm you.
• Acts 28:3But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper crawled out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand.
• Romans 3:13“Their throat is an open grave; They [habitually] deceive with their tongues.” “The venom of asps is beneath their lips.”
• Matthew 3:7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the [divine] wrath and judgment to come?
• Matthew 12:34You brood of vipers, how can you speak good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart.
• Matthew 13:38and the field is the world; and [as for] the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the weeds are the sons of the evil one;
• Matthew 23:33You serpents, you spawn of vipers, how can you escape the penalty of hell?
• John 8:44You are of your father the devil, and it is your will to practice the desires [which are characteristic] of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks what is natural to him, for he is a liar and the father of lies and half-truths.
• Acts 13:10and said, “You [Elymas] who are full of every [kind of] deceit, and every [kind of] fraud, you son of the devil, enemy of everything that is right and good, will you never stop perverting the straight paths of the Lord?
• 1 John 3:8The one who practices sin [separating himself from God, and offending Him by acts of disobedience, indifference, or rebellion] is of the devil [and takes his inner character and moral values from him, not God]; for the devil has sinned and violated God’s law from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.
• Psalms 132:11The Lord swore to David A truth from which He will not turn back: “One of your descendants I will set upon your throne.
• Isaiah 7:14Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Listen carefully, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and she will call his name Immanuel (God with us).
• Jeremiah 31:22How long will you hesitate [to return], O you faithless and renegade daughter? For the Lord has created a new thing in the land [of Israel]: A woman will encompass (tenderly love) a man.”

Commentaries on Genesis 3:15

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 15I will put enmity between thee and the woman - This has been generally supposed to apply to a certain enmity subsisting between men and serpents; but this is rather a fancy than a reality. It is yet to be discovered that the serpentine race have any peculiar enmity against mankind, nor is there any proof that men hate serpents more than they do other noxious animals. Men have much more enmity to the common rat and magpie than they have to all the serpents…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 8-21Verses 8-21 - XVI. The Judgment 15. שׁוּף shûp “bruise, wound.” ͂ (= ͂ ?) tērein ̓́ ektribein Job 9:17, ͂ katapatein Psalm 139:11, ́ suntribein Romans 16:20. 16. תשׁוּקה teshûqâh “desire, inclination.” ́ apostrofee ̓́ epistrophē Genesis 3:8-13; the sentence pronounced upon each, Genesis 3:14-19; and certain particulars following thereupon, Genesis 3:20-21. Genesis 3:8-9 The voice, we conceive, is the thunder of the approach of God and his call to Adam…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 14-15Verses 14-15 God passes sentence; and he begins where the sin began, with the serpent. The devil's instruments must share in the devil's punishments. Under the cover of the serpent, the devil is sentenced to be degraded and accursed of God; detested and abhorred of all mankind: also to be destroyed and ruined at last by the great Redeemer, signified by the breaking of his head. War is proclaimed between the Seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 15enmity: The prophet Isaiah looks ahead to a future when the Messiah's kingdom will restore all creation to peace, like the garden of Eden before humans disobeyed God (see Isaiah 11:8). her seed (or offspring): This term can refer to a single descendant or many. In ancient Near Eastern culture, "you and your offspring" (see Genesis 28:14) describes a shared identity. Here, it describes ongoing hostility between humans and snakes. The pattern is set using…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1515. thy seed--not only evil spirits, but wicked men. seed of the woman--the Messiah, or His Church [Calvin, Hengstenberg]. I will put enmity between thee and the woman--God can only be said to do so by leaving "the serpent and his seed to the influence of their own corruption; and by those measures which, pursued for the salvation of men, fill Satan and his angels with envy and rage." thou shalt bruise his heel--The serpent wounds the heel that crushes…Read the comment

Topics related to Genesis 3:15

• Agency
• Curse
• Eve
• Fall of Man
• God
• Jesus Continued
• Jesus, the Christ
• Judgments
• Malice
• Persecution
• Satan
• Serpent
• Sin
• Temptation
• War
• Women

In the dictionaries

• Above
• Abraham
• Adam
• Beguile
• Bread
• Christ
• Clothe
• Coat
• Conception
• Dust

Commentaries on Genesis 3

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings