God’s Word Translation
Genesis 3:18
18The ground will grow thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat wild plants.
Genesis 3:18 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
- New International Version (NIV)It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
- English Standard Version (ESV)thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.
Context of Genesis 3:18
16He said to the woman, “I will increase your pain and your labor when you give birth to children. Yet, you will long for your husband, and he will rule you.” 17Then he said to the man, “You listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree, although I commanded you, ‘You must never eat its fruit.’ The ground is cursed because of you. Through hard work you will eat ⌞food that comes⌟ from it every day of your life. The ground will grow thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat wild plants. 19By the sweat of your brow, you will produce food to eat until you return to the ground, because you were taken from it. You are dust, and you will return to dust.” 20Adam named his wife Eve [Life] because she became the mother of every living person.
Read all of Genesis 3Genesis 3:18 word by word
וְק֥וֹץ וְדַרְדַּ֖ר תַּצְמִ֣יחַֽ לָ֑ךְ וְאָכַלְתָּ֖ אֶת־עֵ֥שֶׂב הַשָּׂדֶֽה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Genesis 3:18
- Joshua 23:13then you should know that the Lord your God will never again force these people out of your way. Instead, they will be a snare and a trap for you, a whip laid to your sides, and thorns in your eyes until none of you are left in this good land that the Lord your God has given you.
- Job 5:5What a stubborn fool gathers, hungry people eat. They take it even from among the thorns, and thirsty people pant after his wealth.
- Job 31:40⌞then⌟ let it grow thistles instead of wheat, and foul-smelling weeds instead of barley.” This is the end of Job’s words.
- Proverbs 22:5A devious person has thorns and traps ahead of him. Whoever guards himself will stay far away from them.
- Proverbs 24:31I saw that it was all overgrown with thistles. The ground was covered with weeds, and its stone fence was torn down.
- Isaiah 5:6I will make it a wasteland. It will never be pruned or hoed. Thorns and weeds will grow in it, and I will command the clouds not to rain on it.
- Isaiah 7:23On that day, in every place where there were 1,000 vines (worth 1,000 pieces of silver), there will be briars and thorns.
- Isaiah 32:13Mourn for my people’s land where thorns and briars will grow. Mourn for all the happy homes in a joyful city.
- Jeremiah 4:3This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem: Plow your unplowed fields, and don’t plant among thorns.
- Jeremiah 12:13My people planted wheat, but they harvested thorns. They worked until they became sick, but they gained nothing by it. They were disappointed by their harvests because of the burning anger of the Lord.
- Matthew 13:7Other seeds were planted among thornbushes, and the thornbushes grew up and choked them.
- Hebrews 6:8However, if the earth produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.
- Job 1:21He said, “Naked I came from my mother, and naked I will return. The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away! May the name of the Lord be praised.”
- Psalms 90:3You turn mortals back into dust and say, “Return, descendants of Adam.”
- Psalms 104:2You cover yourself with light as though it were a robe. You stretch out the heavens as though they were curtains.
- Romans 14:2Some people believe that they can eat all kinds of food. Other people with weak faith believe that they can eat only vegetables.
Commentaries on Genesis 3:18
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 18Thorns also and thistles, etc. - Instead of producing nourishing grain and useful vegetables, noxious weeds shall be peculiarly prolific, injure the ground, choke the good seed, and mock the hopes of the husbandman; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field - thou shalt no longer have the privilege of this garden of delights, but must go to the common champaign country, and feed on such herbs as thou canst find, till by labor and industry thou hast raised…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. 17-19God emphasized his first command not to eat the fruit by mentioning eating several times in 3:17–19. The judgment made it harder for humans to get food. This matched their sin of eating what God had forbidden. cursed is the ground: The man's relationship with the ground (see study note on 2:7) became hostile as judgment affected his main role (2:5, 15). He must work hard to cultivate the ground, but with less success than before. Human sin impacts all of…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 17-1917-19. unto Adam he said--made to gain his livelihood by tilling the ground; but what before his fall he did with ease and pleasure, was not to be accomplished after it without painful and persevering exertion.Read the comment
Topics related to Genesis 3:18
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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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