New International Version
Genesis 3:18
18It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
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;
- 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.
- New Living Translation (NLT)It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains.
Context of Genesis 3:18
16To 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.” 17To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” 20Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
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 may be sure that the Lord your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become snares and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land, which the Lord your God has given you.
- Job 5:5The hungry consume his harvest, taking it even from among thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth.
- Job 31:40then let briers come up instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.
- Proverbs 22:5In the paths of the wicked are snares and pitfalls, but those who would preserve their life stay far from them.
- Proverbs 24:31thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins.
- Isaiah 5:6I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.”
- Isaiah 7:23In that day, in every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels, there will be only briers and thorns.
- Isaiah 32:13and for the land of my people, a land overgrown with thorns and briers— yes, mourn for all houses of merriment and for this city of revelry.
- Jeremiah 4:3This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns.
- Jeremiah 12:13They will sow wheat but reap thorns; they will wear themselves out but gain nothing. They will bear the shame of their harvest because of the Lord’s fierce anger.”
- Matthew 13:7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.
- Hebrews 6:8But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.
- Job 1:21and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”
- Psalms 90:3You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”
- Psalms 104:2The Lord wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent
- Romans 14:2One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats 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
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