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The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

Genesis 3:17-19

GENESIS—NOTE ON Genesis 3:17 Because he has eaten what was prohibited (v. Genesis 3:6), Adam will have to struggle to eat in the future. He will no longer enjoy the garden’s abundance but will have to work the ground from which he was taken (v. Genesis 3:23; see note on 2:8–9). The punishment is not the work itself (see note on 2:15–16) but rather the hardship and frustration that it will involve. To say that the ground is cursed and will produce thorns and thistles means that it will no longer be as productive as it was in Eden.

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See also Genesis 3:17-19 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Genesis 3:17. _UNTO ADAM HE SAID_] The man being the _last_ in the transgression is brought up _last_ to receive his sentence: _Because_ _thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife _- "thou...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    - XVI. The Judgment 15. שׁוּף _shûp_ “bruise, wound.” τηρεῖν (=τερεῖν?) _tērein_ ἐκτρίβειν _ektribein_ Job 9:17, καταπατεῖν...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 3 The Fall of Man _ 1. The serpent and the woman (Genesis 3:1)_ 2. The fall and the immediate results (Genesis 3:6) 3. Jehovah Elohim questions Adam (Genesis 3:8) 4. His question to the w...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    Among the animals formed by Yahweh, in His first attempt to provide man with a companion, was the serpent; at that time either a quadruped or holding itself erect. It was eminent among its fellows for...

  • B. W. Johnson's Bible Commentary

    II. THE CURSE.--The Bible student should read carefully the verses intervening between the 6th and the 17th. These tell of the arrest of the guilty pair, their arraignment, their excuses, the curse up...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    CURSED. Nature affected. Romans 8:19....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    The Sentence 14. _cursed art thou_ The word "cursed" is only used in addressing the serpent, as the originator of the temptation, and in reference to "the ground" as the sphere of man's penalty (Gene...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _cursed is the ground_ The man is addressed as one who in the future is to be dependent upon the soil for the means of subsistence. Not man, but the ground for man's sake, is accursed. Its fruitfulnes...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    UNTO ADAM HE SAID, &C.— Now follows the curse of the man, who is doomed to toil and labour for his food and support all the days of his life; labour upon a soil, cursed for his sake, and consequently...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    PART THIRTEEN: THE BEGINNING OF PHYSICAL EVIL ON EARTH (Genesis 3:9-24) _Recapitulation_ 1. Aldo J. Tos writes interestingly as follows (ABOT, 61): The account of the Fall is an artistic presentatio...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    _AND UNTO ADAM HE SAID, BECAUSE THOU HAST HEARKENED UNTO THE VOICE OF THY WIFE, AND HAST EATEN OF THE TREE, OF WHICH I COMMANDED THEE, SAYING, THOU SHALT NOT EAT OF IT: CURSED IS THE GROUND FOR THY SA...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    PARADISE AND THE FALL In this famous passage we possess a wealth of moral and spiritual teaching regarding God and man. The intention of the writer is evidently to give an answer to the question: How...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL] i.e. moral consciousness issuing in moral judgment; the power to distinguish between good and evil, not in act only but in consequence as well. This faculty is necessary, i...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    God intended to give good things to people. He intended to show to people how they could live well on the earth. But Adam and Eve did not obey God. They did what he had told them not to do. That spoil...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    GOD’S ANCIENT PEOPLE GENESIS _ALUN OWEN_ CHAPTER 3 ADAM AND EVE DO AN EVIL THING V1 The snake was the cleverest wild animal that the *Lord God had made. The snake said to the woman, ‘Is it true...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    UNTO ADAM (WITHOUT THE ARTICLE, AND THEREFORE A PROPER NAME) HE SAID. — Lange thoughtfully remarks that while the woman was punished by the entrance of sorrow into the small subjective world of her wo...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    EXCURSUS C: ON THE DURATION OF THE PARADISIACAL STATE OF INNOCENCE. The _Bereshit Rabba_ argues that Adam and Eve remained in their original state of innocence for six hours only. Others have supposed...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    וּ לְ אָדָ֣ם אָמַ֗ר כִּ֥י ־שָׁמַעְתָּ֮ לְ

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    THE FALL Genesis 3:1 PROFOUND as the teaching of this narrative is, its meaning does not lie on the surface. Literal interpretation will reach a measure of its significance, but plainly there is more...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    GOD'S CONDEMNATION OF ADAM AND EVE Genesis 3:9 God does not wait for Adam to find his own way back, but hastens in search of him. “Where art thou” is rendered in one version, _Alas for thee._ Jesus m...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    Here begins the second section of the Book of Genesis. As the first has answered questions concerning creation, the second replies to questions asked in the presence of sin and suffering and sorrow. T...

  • Gary Hampton Commentaries

    God would have been very pleased if he had never needed a remedy for sin. However, man chose the path of sin. Satan's grand lie caused him to transgress God's will. Jesus called Satan "a murderer from...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: (s) cursed [is] the ground for t...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    _Thy work, sin; thy perdition is from thyself: this is all that man can challenge for his own. (Haydock)_...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Job 17:13; Psalms 22:15. How sweet a...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    There is one characteristic of divine revelation to which attention may be profitably called as a starting point. We have to do with facts. The Bible alone is a revelation of facts, and, we can add (n...

  • James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary

    _SINNERS MUST SUFFER_ ‘Unto the woman He said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception,’ etc. Genesis 3:16 By the Fall sin entered in, and by sin a change passed over the whole world....

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    17._And unto Adam he said_. In the first place, it is to be observed, that punishment was not inflicted upon the first of our race so as to rest on those two alone, but was extended generally to all t...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    In chapter 3 we find what, alas! has always happened, and happened immediately when God has set up anything in the hands of responsible man disobedience and failure. So it was in Adam, so in Noah, so...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    AND UNTO ADAM HE SAID,.... Last of all, being the last that sinned, but not to be excused: BECAUSE THOU HAST HEARKENED UNTO THE VOICE OF THY WIFE; which was not only mean but sinful, since it was opp...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed [is] the ground for thy s...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife_ Obeyed her word and counsel, contrary to my express command. He excused the fault by laying it on his wife, but God doth not admit the excuse: th...

  • KJV Original Language Details

    1 The serpent deceiueth Eue. 6 Mans shamefull fall. 9 God arraigneth them. 14 The serpent is cursed. 15 The promised Seed. 16 The punishment of Mankind. 21 Their first clothing. 22 Their castin...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    And unto Adam He said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    The Curse of God...

  • Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures

    SECOND PART THE GENESIS OF THE WORLD-HISTORY, OF THE TRIAL, OF THE SIN OF MAN, OF THE JUDGMENT, OF DEATH, OF THE SALVATION-TRIUMPH, OF THE CONTRAST BETWEEN A DIVINE AND A WORLDLY TENDENCY IN HUMANITY...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    THE FALL OF MAN The serpent is introduced in this chapter as being more cunning than all other beasts. This was evidently so just by the fact of Satan's using the serpent for his mouthpiece. It is not...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    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...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    HEARKENED UNTO THE VOICE OF THY WIFE, i.e. obeyed the word and counsel, contrary to my express command. CURSED IS THE GROUND, which shall now yield both fewer and worse fruits, and those too with more...

  • Notes on the Pentateuch by Charles Henry Mackintosh

    This section of our book sets before us the breaking up of the whole scene on which we have been dwelling. It abounds in very weighty principles; and has, very justly, been, in all ages, resorted to a...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Genesis 3:17 Adam H121 said H559 (H8804) heeded H8085 (H8804) voice H6963 wife H802 eaten H398 ...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    ‘And to the man he said, “Because you have listened to your wife's voice, and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you ‘you shall not eat of it', cursed is the ground because of you; in toil (p...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Genesis 3:17 This was almost the first curse revealed to us as pronounced by God, and yet it is almost the first blessing. I. At first sight we are _not_prepared to admit that labour is a blessing. W...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Genesis 3:17 The ground is our first lesson-book. Notice (1) A man does not cultivate the land by waving his hand majestically over it. The land says, "If you want anything out of me you must work for...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Genesis 3 Consider: (1) some of the consequences, and (2) some of the corroborative proofs of the fall. I. Beside and behind the outward consequences, there were inward results far more terrible. A d...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Genesis 3:1. _Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?_ H...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    Genesis 3:1. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Temptation of Eve and entrance of sin into the race. God's covenant with fallen man and the expulsion from Eden. CHARACTERS: God, Satan, Adam, Eve. CONCLUSION: Doubt lies at the root of all...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Genesis 3:1. _The serpent._ The rabbins and the christian doctors have largely sported their opinions here. St. Cyril contends that Satan assumed the figure of the serpent, and so talked with the woma...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Cursed is the ground for thy sake_ A CURSE WHICH PROVES A BLESSING This was almost the first curse revealed to us as pronounced by God, and yet it is almost the first blessing. I. AT FIRST SIGHT WE...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _What is this that thou hast done?_ THE GENERAL RESULTS OF THE FALL I. ETERNAL ENMITY BETWEEN SATAN AND HUMANITY (Genesis 3:14). 1. This curse was uttered in reference to Satan. 2. This address is...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Genesis 3:13_ THE GENERAL RESULTS OF THE FALL OF OUR FIRST PARENTS I. The result of the fall of our first parents is an eternal enmity between Satan and humanity....

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION GENESIS 3:8 AND THEY HEARD THE VOICE OF THE LORD GOD. Either (1) the noise of his footsteps (cf. Le Genesis 26:33; Numbers 16:34;...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden (Genesis 3:1)? Now...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Because. 1 Samuel 15:23 1 Samuel 15:24 Matthew 22:12 Matthew 25:26...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    THE CROSS IN GENESIS Genesis 2:22; Genesis 3:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS If Jesus Christ, in the purposes of God, was given to die before the world was formed, or before man was created; and if man, when h...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    THE CURSE AND THE CURE Genesis 3:14 INTRODUCTORY WORDS 1. We have for today a curse without a cure. When God spoke to the serpent He pronounced a curse upon him, which neither in the Garden, nor su...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife — He excused the fault, by laying it on his wife, but God doth not admit the excuse; tho' it was her fault to persuade him to eat it, it was his fa...

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