Bit at a Time Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 3:17-18

Genesis 3:17-18

 

יז וּלְאָדָם אָמַר כִּי שָׁמַעְתָּ לְקוֹל אִשְׁתֶּךָ וַתֹּאכַל מִן־הָעֵץ אֲשֶׁר צִוִּיתִיךָ לֵאמֹר לֹא תֹאכַל מִמֶּנּוּ אֲרוּרָה הָאֲדָמָה בַּעֲבוּרֶךָ בְּעִצָּבוֹן תֹּאכֲלֶנָּה כֹּל יְמֵי חַיֶּיךָ:

יח וְקוֹץ וְדַרְדַּר תַּצְמִיחַ לָךְ וְאָכַלְתָּ אֶת־עֵשֶׂב הַשָּׂדֶה:

 

Translation:    To the man He said Because you obeyed your wife and you ate from the tree that I commanded you saying you shall not eat from it, the ground is cursed for your sake, in pain shall you eat of it all the days of your life.

Thorns and dardar it shall sprout for you and you will eat the wild grass.

 

Vocabulary in this lesson:

בַּעֲבוּרֶךָ	For your sake
קוֹץ	Thorn[s]
דַרְדַּר	Jerusalem artichoke?

 

We’re not sure what dardar is.  Rashi, the great medieval commentator, said it was cardoon, which seems to be called Jerusalem artichoke nowadays. 

 

I want you to notice that these verses don’t say that people will eat agricultural products.  “Wild grass,” esev ha-sadeh, is a parallel to “wild animals”, chayat ha-sadeh.

 

I have a question for you.  Through the rest of this episode, watch for Gd to kill Adam and Chavvah.  After all, He told them that the day they ate from the tree that He commanded them not to eat from, they would die.  They’re not dead yet.

 

Also notice the parallel of Chavvah bearing and raising children b’itsavon and Adam eating b’itsavon all the days of his life from what the cursed earth provided.

 

And notice that the earth is cursed, and the serpent is cursed, but Chavvah and Adam are not cursed.

© Patricia Jo Heil, 2013-2018 All Rights  Reserved