Genesis 3:14
New International Version
So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.

New Living Translation
Then the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live.

English Standard Version
The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.

Berean Standard Bible
So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life.

King James Bible
And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

New King James Version
So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life.

New American Standard Bible
Then the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all the livestock, And more than any animal of the field; On your belly you shall go, And dust you shall eat All the days of your life;

NASB 1995
The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life;

NASB 1977
And the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly shall you go, And dust shall you eat All the days of your life;

Legacy Standard Bible
And Yahweh God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than any of the cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life;

Amplified Bible
The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all the cattle, And more than any animal of the field; On your belly you shall go, And dust you shall eat All the days of your life.

Christian Standard Bible
So the LORD God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal. You will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Then the LORD God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal. You will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life.

American Standard Version
And Jehovah God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And LORD JEHOVAH God said to the Serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every animal of the wilderness, and upon your belly you will walk, and you will eat dust all the days of your life:

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all cattle and all the brutes of the earth, on thy breast and belly thou shalt go, and thou shalt eat earth all the days of thy life.

Contemporary English Version
So the LORD God said to the snake: "Because of what you have done, you will be the only animal to suffer this curse--For as long as you live, you will crawl on your stomach and eat dirt.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the Lord God said to the serpent: Because thou hast done this thing, thou art cursed among all cattle, and the beasts of the earth: upon thy breast shalt thou go, and earth shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.

English Revised Version
And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

GOD'S WORD® Translation
So the LORD God said to the snake, "Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all the wild or domestic animals. You will crawl on your belly. You will be the lowest of animals as long as you live.

Good News Translation
Then the LORD God said to the snake, "You will be punished for this; you alone of all the animals must bear this curse: From now on you will crawl on your belly, and you will have to eat dust as long as you live.

International Standard Version
The LORD God told the Shining One, "Because you have done this, you are more cursed than all the livestock, and more than all the earth's animals, You'll crawl on your belly and eat dust as long as you live.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And the LORD God said unto the serpent: 'Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou from among all cattle, and from among all beasts of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.

Literal Standard Version
And YHWH God says to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed [are] you above all the livestock, and above every beast of the field: on your belly you go, and dust you eat, [for] all days of your life;

Majority Standard Bible
So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life.

New American Bible
Then the LORD God said to the snake: Because you have done this, cursed are you among all the animals, tame or wild; On your belly you shall crawl, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.

NET Bible
The 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.

New Revised Standard Version
The LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you among all animals and among all wild creatures; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.

New Heart English Bible
So God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above every tame animal, and above every wild animal. On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the LORD God said to the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field: upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

World English Bible
Yahweh God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed above all livestock, and above every animal of the field. You shall go on your belly and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.

Young's Literal Translation
And Jehovah God saith unto the serpent, 'Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou above all the cattle, and above every beast of the field: on thy belly dost thou go, and dust thou dost eat, all days of thy life;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Fate of the Serpent
14So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life. 15And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”…

Cross References
Genesis 4:11
Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.

Deuteronomy 28:15
If, however, you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

Isaiah 65:25
The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but the food of the serpent will be dust. They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain," says the LORD.

Micah 7:17
They will lick the dust like a snake, like reptiles slithering on the ground. They will crawl from their holes in the presence of the LORD our God; they will tremble in fear of You.


Treasury of Scripture

And the LORD God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; on your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life:

thou art.

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?

Genesis 9:6
Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

Exodus 21:28-32
If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit…

dust.

Psalm 72:9
They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust.

Isaiah 29:4
And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

Isaiah 65:25
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.

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Genesis 3
1. The serpent deceives Eve.
6. Both she and Adam transgress the divine command, and fall into sin.
8. God arraigns them.
14. The serpent is cursed.
15. The promised seed.
16. The punishment of mankind.
21. Their first clothing.
22. Their expulsion from paradise.














(14, 15) Unto the serpent.--As the serpent had tempted our first parents purposely and consciously in order to lead them into sin, he stood there without excuse, and received a threefold penalty. The outward form of the condemnation is made suitable to the shape which the tempter had assumed; but the true force and meaning, especially in the last and most intense portion of the sentence, belong, not to the animal, but to Satan himself. The serpent is but the type: diabolic agency the reality. First, therefore, the serpent is condemned to crawl. As he is pronounced to be "cursed above (or rather, among) all cattle"--that is, the tame animals subjected to man's service--and also "among all beasts of the field"--that is, the wild animals, but a term not applicable to reptiles--it has been supposed that the serpent was originally erect and beautiful, and that Adam had even tamed serpents, and had them in his household. But such a transformation belongs to the region of fable, and the meaning is that henceforward the serpent's crawling motion is to be to it a mark of disgrace, and to Satan a sign of meanness and contempt. He won the victory over our guileless first parents, and still he winds in and out among men, ever bringing degradation with him, and ever sinking with his victims into deeper abysses of shame and infamy. Yet, even so, perpetually he suffers defeat, and has, secondly, to "lick the dust," because his mean devices lead, as in this place, only to the manifestation of God's glory. In the Paradise Lost Milton has made Satan a hero, though fallen; really he is a despicable and mean-spirited foe, whose strength lies in man's moral feebleness. Finally, there is perpetual enmity between the serpent and man. The adder in the path bites man's heel, and is crushed beneath his tramp. It has been noticed that in spite of the beauty and gracefulness of many of the species, man's loathing of them is innate; while in hot countries they are his great enemy, the deaths in India, for instance, from snake-bites being many times more than those caused by the carnivora.

Her seed . . . shall bruise thy head.--We have here the sum of the whole matter, and the rest of the Bible does but explain the nature of this struggle, the persons who wage it, and the manner and consequences of the victory. Here, too, we learn the end and purpose for which the narrative is cast in its present form. It pictures to us man in a close and loving relation, not to an abstract deity, but to a personal and covenant Jehovah. This Being with tender care plants for him a garden, gathers into it whatever is most rare and beautiful in vegetation, and, having given it to him for his home, even deigns at eventide to walk with him there. In the care of this garden He provides for Adam pleasant employment, and watches the development of his intellect with such interest as a father feels in the mental growth of his child. Day by day He brings new animals within his view; and when, after studying their habits, he gives them names, the Deity shares man's tranquil enjoyment. And when he still feels a void, and needs a companion who can hold with him rational discourse, Jehovah elaborately fashions for him, out of his own self, a second being, whose presence satisfies all his longings. Meanwhile, in accordance with the universal law that hand in hand with free-will goes responsibility, an easy and simple trial is provided for man's obedience. He fails, and henceforward he must wage a sterner conflict, and attain to victory only by effort and suffering. In this struggle man is finally to prevail, but not unscathed. And his triumph is to be gained not by mere human strength, but by the coming of One who is "the Woman's Seed;" and round this promised Deliverer the rest of Scripture groups itself. Leave out these words, and all the inspired teaching which follows would be an ever-widening river without a fountain-head. But necessarily with the fall came the promise of restoration. Grace is no after-thought, but enters the world side by side with sin. Upon this foundation the rest of Holy Scripture is built, till revelation at last reaches its corner-stone in Christ. The outward form of the narrative affords endless subjects for curious discussion; its inner meaning and true object being to lay the broad basis of all future revealed truth.

As regards the reading of the Vulgate and some of the Fathers, ipsa conteret, "she shall bruise," not only is the pronoun masculine in the Hebrew, but also the verb. This too is the case in the Syriac, in which language also verbs have genders. Most probably a critical edition of the Vulgate would restore even there ipse conteret, "he shall bruise."

Like a large proportion of the words used in Genesis, the verb is rare, being found only twice elsewhere in Scripture. In Job 9:17 the meaning seems plainly to be to break, but in Psalm 139:11, where, however, J the reading is uncertain, the sense required is to cover or veil, though Dr. Kay translates overwhelm. Some versions in this place translate it observe; and the Vulgate gives two renderings, namely, "She shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt lie in ambush for (his or her) heel" (gender not marked--calcaneo ejus). The translation of the Authorised Version may be depended upon as correct, in spite of its not being altogether applicable to the attack of a natural serpent upon a wayfarer's heel.

Verse 14. - Confession having thus been made by both delinquents, and the arch-contriver of the whole mischief discovered, the Divine Judge proceeds to deliver sentence. And the Lord God said unto the serpent. Which he does not interrogate as he did the man and woman, "because

(1) in the animal itself there was no sense of sin, and

(2) to the devil he would hold out no hope of pardon" (Calvin); "because the trial has now reached the fountain-head of sin, the purely evil purpose (the demoniacal) having no deeper ground, and requiring no further investigation" (Lange). Because thou hast done this. I.e. beguiled the woman. The incidence of this curse has been explained as -

1. The serpent only (Kalisch). . . .

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
So the LORD
יְהֹוָ֨ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

God
אֱלֹהִ֥ים ׀ (’ĕ·lō·hîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 430: gods -- the supreme God, magistrates, a superlative

said
וַיֹּאמֶר֩ (way·yō·mer)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

to
אֶֽל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

the serpent:
הַנָּחָשׁ֮ (han·nā·ḥāš)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5175: A serpent

“Because
כִּ֣י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

you have done
עָשִׂ֣יתָ (‘ā·śî·ṯā)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 6213: To do, make

this,
זֹּאת֒ (zōṯ)
Pronoun - feminine singular
Strong's 2063: Hereby in it, likewise, the one other, same, she, so much, such deed, that,

cursed
אָר֤וּר (’ā·rūr)
Verb - Qal - QalPassParticiple - masculine singular
Strong's 779: To execrate

are you
אַתָּה֙ (’at·tāh)
Pronoun - second person masculine singular
Strong's 859: Thou and thee, ye and you

above all
מִכָּל־ (mik·kāl)
Preposition-m | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

livestock
הַבְּהֵמָ֔ה (hab·bə·hê·māh)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 929: A dumb beast, any large quadruped, animal

and every
וּמִכֹּ֖ל (ū·mik·kōl)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-m | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

beast
חַיַּ֣ת (ḥay·yaṯ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 2416: Alive, raw, fresh, strong, life

of the field!
הַשָּׂדֶ֑ה (haś·śā·ḏeh)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 7704: Field, land

On
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

your belly
גְּחֹנְךָ֣ (gə·ḥō·nə·ḵā)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 1512: The external abdomen, belly

{will} you go,
תֵלֵ֔ךְ (ṯê·lêḵ)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

and dust
וְעָפָ֥ר (wə·‘ā·p̄ār)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6083: Dust, clay, earth, mud

you {will} eat,
תֹּאכַ֖ל (tō·ḵal)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 398: To eat

all
כָּל־ (kāl-)
Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

the days
יְמֵ֥י (yə·mê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 3117: A day

of your life.
חַיֶּֽיךָ׃ (ḥay·ye·ḵā)
Noun - masculine plural construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 2416: Alive, raw, fresh, strong, life


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OT Law: Genesis 3:14 Yahweh God said to the serpent Because (Gen. Ge Gn)
Genesis 3:13
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