Errors in translations of Genesis 3:16
Why fix it? Isn’t this similar to asking what’s wrong with cursing someone? The incorrect idea of something like a curse is what is said in current translations of Genesis 3:16. But the woman was not cursed in Genesis 3:16. Not even close!
God told the woman of two new things she would experience: (1) “sorrowful toil” (‘itsabon) from working the ground that would be cursed because of the man, and (2) “conception” (heron) of the offspring who would crush the head of the serpent-tempter. And then God instructed her of what life would be life since she and the man had become mortal and had each sinned in their own way.
But she was never cursed. Nor was the man.
There are many individuals who are very discouraged as they read current translations of Genesis 3:16. These translations cover over the two new things God actually announced with one very different thing God supposedly instituted. It is “pain-in-childbirth.” This is a bold and shocking insertion of an idea foreign to the Hebrew words they are translating.
(In the words after these God spoke to her of “effort” in childbearing. She already knew she was naked. Being naked was not something new to be added by an additional act of God. She was already mortal. God taught her by describing what giving birth would be like with an already mortal body.)
Many issues can be explored as to whether think the woman was cursed has led to mistreatment of women. Perhaps we will discuss this in coming articles.
