Christian Standard Bible
Genesis 3:16
16He said to the woman: I will intensify your labor pains; you will bear children with painful effort. Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will rule over you.
Genesis 3:16 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
- New International Version (NIV)To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
- English Standard Version (ESV)To the woman he said, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you."
- New King James Version (NKJV)To the woman He said: “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you.”
Context of Genesis 3:16
14So the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal. You will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. 15I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel. He said to the woman: I will intensify your labor pains; you will bear children with painful effort. Your desire will be for your husband, yet he will rule over you. 17And he said to the man, “Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’: The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by means of painful labor all the days of your life. 18It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
Read all of Genesis 3Genesis 3:16 word by word
אֶֽל־הָאִשָּׁ֣ה אָמַ֗ר הַרְבָּ֤ה אַרְבֶּה֙ עִצְּבוֹנֵ֣ךְ וְהֵֽרֹנֵ֔ךְ בְּעֶ֖צֶב תֵּֽלְדִ֣י בָנִ֑ים וְאֶל־אִישֵׁךְ֙ תְּשׁ֣וּקָתֵ֔ךְ וְה֖וּא יִמְשָׁל־בָּֽךְ׃ סRead the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Unto the womanאִשָּׁה'ishshâh nâshîym · womanH802
- he saidאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
- I will greatlyרָבָהrâbâh · to multiplyH7235
- thy sorrowעִצָּבוֹן‛itstsâbôn · toilH6093
- and thy conceptionהֵרָיוֹןhêrôn hêrâyôn · conceptionH2032
- in sorrowעֶ֫צֶב‛etseb · toilH6089
- thou shalt bring forthיָלַדyâlad · to begetH3205
- childrenבֵּןbên · son: childH1121
- and thy desireתְּשׁוּקָהteshûqâh · desireH8669
- to thy husbandאִישׁ'îysh · man: husbandH376
- and he shall ruleמָשַׁלmâshal · to ruleH4910
Cross-references for Genesis 3:16
- Genesis 35:16They set out from Bethel. When they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth, and her labor was difficult.
- 1 Samuel 4:19Eli’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and about to give birth. When she heard the news about the capture of God’s ark and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband, she collapsed and gave birth because her labor pains came on her.
- Psalms 48:6Trembling seized them there, agony like that of a woman in labor,
- Isaiah 13:8They will be horrified; pain and agony will seize them; they will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look at each other, their faces flushed with fear.
- Isaiah 21:3Therefore I am filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pain of a woman in labor. I am too perplexed to hear, too dismayed to see.
- Isaiah 26:17As a pregnant woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pains, so we were before you, Lord.
- Isaiah 53:11After his anguish, he will see light and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant will justify many, and he will carry their iniquities.
- Jeremiah 4:31I hear a cry like a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child. The cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath, stretching out her hands: “Woe is me, for my life is weary because of the murderers!”
- Jeremiah 6:24We have heard about it, and our hands have become weak. Distress has seized us — pain, like a woman in labor.
- Jeremiah 13:21What will you say when he appoints close friends as leaders over you, ones you yourself trained? Won’t labor pains seize you, as they do a woman in labor?
- Jeremiah 22:23You residents of Lebanon, nestled among the cedars, how you will groan when pains come on you, agony like a woman in labor.
- Jeremiah 49:24Damascus has become weak; she has turned to run; panic has gripped her. Distress and labor pains have seized her like a woman in labor.
- Micah 4:9Now, why are you shouting loudly? Is there no king with you? Has your counselor perished so that anguish grips you like a woman in labor?
- John 16:21When a woman is in labor, she has pain because her time has come. But when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a person has been born into the world.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:3When they say, “Peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
- 1 Timothy 2:15But she will be saved through childbearing, if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with good sense.
Commentaries on Genesis 3:16
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 16Unto the woman he said - She being second in the transgression is brought up the second to receive her condemnation, and to hear her punishment: I will greatly multiply, or multiplying I will multiply; i.e., I will multiply thy sorrows, and multiply those sorrows by other sorrows, and this during conception and pregnancy, and particularly so in parturition or child-bearing. And this curse has fallen in a heavier degree on the woman than on any other…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. 16-19Verses 16-19 The woman, for her sin, is condemned to a state of sorrow, and of subjection; proper punishments of that sin, in which she had sought to gratify the desire of her eye, and of the flesh, and her pride. Sin brought sorrow into the world; that made the world a vale of tears. No wonder our sorrows are multiplied, when our sins are so. He shall rule over thee, is but God's command, Wives, be subject to your own husbands. If man had not sinned, he…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 16The judgment affects the woman's special role in childbearing and her relationship with her husband. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you: The marriage relationship now includes conflict instead of only security and happiness. New life in Jesus can restore a man and woman's marriage relationship (Ephesians 5:18–32; compare Matthew 20:25–28).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1616. unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow--She was doomed as a wife and mother to suffer pain of body and distress of mind. From being the help meet of man and the partner of his affections [Ge 2:18, 23], her condition would henceforth be that of humble subjection.Read the comment
Topics related to Genesis 3:16
In the dictionaries
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
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