New Living Translation
Genesis 3:18
18It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains.
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
16Then he said to the woman, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.” 17And to the man he said, “Since you listened to your wife and ate from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat, the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains. 19By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.” 20Then the man—Adam—named his wife Eve, because she would be the mother of all who live.
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 know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive them out of your land. Instead, they will be a snare and a trap to you, a whip for your backs and thorny brambles in your eyes, and you will vanish from this good land the Lord your God has given you.
- Job 5:5The hungry devour their harvest, even when it is guarded by brambles. The thirsty pant after their wealth.
- Job 31:40then let thistles grow on that land instead of wheat, and weeds instead of barley.” Job’s words are ended.
- Proverbs 22:5Corrupt people walk a thorny, treacherous road; whoever values life will avoid it.
- Proverbs 24:31I saw that it was overgrown with nettles. It was covered with weeds, and its walls were broken down.
- Isaiah 5:6I will make it a wild place where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed, a place overgrown with briers and thorns. I will command the clouds to drop no rain on it.
- Isaiah 7:23In that day the lush vineyards, now worth 1,000 pieces of silver, will become patches of briers and thorns.
- Isaiah 32:13For your land will be overgrown with thorns and briers. Your joyful homes and happy towns will be gone.
- Jeremiah 4:3This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and Jerusalem: “Plow up the hard ground of your hearts! Do not waste your good seed among thorns.
- Jeremiah 12:13My people have planted wheat but are harvesting thorns. They have worn themselves out, but it has done them no good. They will harvest a crop of shame because of the fierce anger of the Lord.”
- Matthew 13:7Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants.
- Hebrews 6:8But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it.
- Job 1:21He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!”
- Psalms 90:3You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals!”
- Psalms 104:2You are dressed in a robe of light. You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens;
- Romans 14:2For instance, one person believes it’s all right to eat anything. But another believer with a sensitive conscience will 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
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