May the mumbling commence!
The human story continues. The first of many falls from grace has happened. Now we hear God’s pronouncement of judgment
on all involved. Read from Genesis
chapter three:
Peterson’s The
Message:
God told the serpent:
“Because you’ve done this, you’re cursed,
cursed beyond all cattle and wild animals
Cursed to slink on your
belly
and eat dirt all your life.
I’m declaring war
between you
and the Woman,
between
your offspring and hers.
He’ll wound your
head,
you’ll wound his heel.”
He told
the Woman:
“I’ll multiply your pains in childbirth;
you’ll
give birth to your babies in pain.
You’ll want to please your husband,
but he’ll lord it over you.”
He told
the Man:
“Because you listened to your wife
and ate
from the tree
That I commanded you not to eat from.
‘Don’t
eat from this tree,’
The very ground is cursed because of you;
getting food from the ground
Will be as painful as having babies is for your
wife;
you’ll
be working in pain all your life long.
The ground will sprout thorns and weeds,
you’ll get your food the hard way,
Planting and tilling and harvesting,
sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk,
Until your return to that ground yourself, dead and
buried;
you started out as dirt, you’ll end up dirt.” (Genesis 3:14-19)
NIV
So the Lord God said to the serpent,
"Because you have done this,
Cursed are you
above all the livestock and all the wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel."
To the woman he said,
"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing;
with pain you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you."
To Adam he said,
"Because you listened to your wife
and ate from the tree
about which I commanded you,
'You must not eat of it,'
Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat of it
all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return." (Genesis 3:14-19)
Ashes to ashes, dirt to dirt. It doesn’t quite have the same ring. But there are greater differences that I am
more serious about exploring. For
example, there is much difference between planting enmity and declaring
war. I do not like Peterson’s translation
of God declaring war between Satan’s and Eve’s offspring… even if that is an
accurate description of the relationship.
God did not declare war on their behalf.
And I’m not sure how women think
about the additions of the pain of harvesting being equal to the pain of
childbirth. I think that’s an
unwarranted comparison – unfair to women’s pain in childbirth. But I do like the addition of the gerunds
planting and tilling and harvesting. I
get tired just reading them! These
gerunds and the additional phrase after them underscore the cursing of mankind
and the cursing of the earth. It’s good.
It’s good for us to realize that
sins that we commit affect not only us but all of creation. It’s a sobering thought!
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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