Devine Scripture

Genesis 3:16

What does Genesis 3:16 mean?

A plain-English look at Genesis 3:16 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What Genesis 3:16 means

God pronounces the consequences for the woman's disobedience. Her experience of childbearing will be greatly intensified by pain and sorrow. Furthermore, her desire will be for her husband, and he will rule over her. This doesn't endorse abusive male dominion but describes a new dynamic in the marital relationship, marked by struggle and a distortion of the original harmonious equality, resulting from sin's entry into the world.

Genesis 3:16 in context

Genesis 3 — The Fall of Man

Into the garden of the previous chapter comes the serpent, more subtle than any beast of the field. He casts doubt on God's word, then on God's goodness, and at last persuades the woman that the way to be like God is to disobey him. Adam, present and silent, eats with her. Innocence collapses into shame; communion with God gives way to hiding; the man blames the woman, the woman blames the serpent, and creation itself is cursed. Yet at the very moment of judgment a promise is given: the seed of the woman will crush the serpent's head (3:15). It is the gospel in seed form.

  • Temptation
  • Sin and shame
  • The protoevangelium
  • God's mercy in judgment

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy conception; in pain thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

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.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy conception; in pain thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

To the woman he said, Great will be your pain in childbirth; in sorrow will your children come to birth; still your desire will be for your husband, but he will be your master.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

Unto the woman He said, `Multiplying I multiply thy sorrow and thy conception, in sorrow dost thou bear children, and toward thy husband <FI>is<Fi> thy desire, and he doth rule over thee.'

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

To the woman also he said: I will multiply thy sorrows, and thy conceptions: in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children, and thou shalt be under thy husband's power, and he shall have dominion over thee.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

To the woman he said, I will greatly increase thy travail and thy pregnancy; with pain thou shalt bear children; and to thy husband shall be thy desire, and he shall rule over thee.

Context

Following the curse on the serpent and the messianic promise, this verse details God's judgment specifically upon the woman. It completes the sequence of individual accountability after the fall. This pronouncement establishes the new realities of pain in childbirth and altered marital dynamics, preceding God's judgment upon Adam, which impacts his role and the very ground.

v.15and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

v.16This passage

v.17And 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; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Jeremiah 13:21

    What wilt thou say, when he shall set over thee as head those whom thou hast thyself taught to be friends to thee? shall not sorrows take hold of thee, as of a woman in travail?

  • Isaiah 21:3

    Therefore are my loins filled with anguish; pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman in travail: I am pained so that I cannot hear; I am dismayed so that I cannot see.

  • Esther 1:20

    And when the king’s decree which he shall make shall be published throughout all his kingdom (for it is great), all the wives will give to their husbands honor, both to great and small.

  • Ephesians 5:22

    Wives, be in subjection unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.

  • 1 Corinthians 7:4

    The wife hath not power over her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power over his own body, but the wife.

  • 1 Timothy 2:11

    Let a woman learn in quietness with all subjection.

Sermon ideas from Genesis 3:16

Angles a pastor or small-group leader might preach or teach from this passage, drawn from the chapter's main themes.

  • What Genesis 3:16 teaches us about temptation

  • What Genesis 3:16 teaches us about sin and shame

  • What Genesis 3:16 teaches us about the protoevangelium

  • What Genesis 3:16 teaches us about god's mercy in judgment

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