New English Translation
Genesis 3:16
16To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your labor pains; with pain you will give birth to children. You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate 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
14The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the wild beasts and all the living creatures of the field! On your belly you will crawl and dust you will eat all the days of your life. 15And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; her offspring will attack your head, and you will attack her offspring’s heel.” To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your labor pains; with pain you will give birth to children. You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate you.” 17But to Adam he said, “Because you obeyed your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground thanks to you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18It will produce thorns and thistles for you, but you will eat the grain 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 traveled on from Bethel, and when Ephrath was still some distance away, Rachel went into labor – and her labor was hard.
- 1 Samuel 4:19His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phineas, was pregnant and close to giving birth. When she heard that the ark of God was captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she doubled over and gave birth. But her labor pains were too much for her.
- Psalms 48:6Look at them shake uncontrollably, like a woman writhing in childbirth.
- Isaiah 13:8They panic – cramps and pain seize hold of them like those of a woman who is straining to give birth. They look at one another in astonishment; their faces are flushed red.
- Isaiah 21:3For this reason my stomach churns; cramps overwhelm me like the contractions of a woman in labor. I am disturbed by what I hear, horrified by what I see.
- Isaiah 26:17As when a pregnant woman gets ready to deliver and strains and cries out because of her labor pains, so were we because of you, O Lord.
- Isaiah 53:11Having suffered, he will reflect on his work, he will be satisfied when he understands what he has done. “My servant will acquit many, for he carried their sins.
- Jeremiah 4:31In fact, I hear a cry like that of a woman in labor, a cry of anguish like that of a woman giving birth to her first baby. It is the cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath, reaching out for help, saying, “I am done in! My life is ebbing away before these murderers!”
- Jeremiah 6:24The people cry out, “We have heard reports about them! We have become helpless with fear! Anguish grips us, agony like that of a woman giving birth to a baby!
- Jeremiah 13:21What will you say when the Lord appoints as rulers over you those allies that you, yourself, had actually prepared as such? Then anguish and agony will grip you like that of a woman giving birth to a baby.
- Jeremiah 22:23You may feel as secure as a bird nesting in the cedars of Lebanon. But oh how you will groan when the pains of judgment come on you. They will be like those of a woman giving birth to a baby.
- Jeremiah 49:24The people of Damascus will lose heart and turn to flee. Panic will grip them. Pain and anguish will seize them like a woman in labor.
- Micah 4:9Jerusalem, why are you now shouting so loudly? Has your king disappeared? Has your wise leader been destroyed? Is this why pain grips you as if you were a woman in labor?
- John 16:21When a woman gives birth, she has distress because her time has come, but when her child is born, she no longer remembers the suffering because of her joy that a human being has been born into the world.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:3Now when they are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction comes on them, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will surely not escape.
- 1 Timothy 2:15But she will be delivered through childbearing, if she continues in faith and love and holiness with self-control.
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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