21st Century Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 3:17-18, not dead yet

Genesis 3:17-18

 

יז וּלְאָדָ֣ם אָמַ֗ר כִּ֣י שָׁמַ֘עְתָּ֘ לְק֣וֹל אִשְׁתֶּ֒ךָ֒ וַתֹּ֨אכַל֙ מִן־הָעֵ֔ץ אֲשֶׁ֤ר צִוִּיתִ֨יךָ֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר לֹ֥א תֹאכַ֖ל מִמֶּ֑נּוּ אֲרוּרָ֤ה הָֽאֲדָמָה֙ בַּֽעֲבוּרֶ֔ךָ בְּעִצָּבוֹן֙ תֹּֽאכֲלֶ֔נָּה כֹּ֖ל יְמֵ֥י חַיֶּֽיךָ:

יח וְק֥וֹץ וְדַרְדַּ֖ר תַּצְמִ֣יחַ לָ֑ךְ וְאָֽכַלְתָּ֖ אֶת־עֵ֥שֶׂב הַשָּׂדֶֽה:

 

Translation:     To the man He said: Because you listened to your wife, 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; you will eat the wild plant.

 

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.  Cardoon takes a lot of cooking to be edible. (It also makes a natural rennet for cheese-making.)

 

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.

 

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.

 

They are also still not dead.