Genesis 3:14 (WEB)
The LORD 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.
As quoted in the map (KJV)
Genesis 3:14 (KJV)
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:
Key words
- אָרוּרarur · Hebrew
- 'cursed.' The serpent is the only creature in Genesis 3 to be cursed directly; the man and woman are not.
- אֵיבָהeybah · Hebrew
- 'enmity' (v. 15) — hostility to the death; see Numbers 35:21 and Ezekiel 25:15 for the same word in contexts of murder and war.
Why it matters
The curse on the serpent flows directly into the oracle of verse 15. Pitre stresses that the 'enmity' God places between the serpent and the woman is not mild dislike but lethal warfare, so Genesis 3:14–15 is a declaration of war between the serpent and his seed on one side and the woman and her seed on the other. Ancient Jewish readers already understood the serpent as the devil; the New Testament identifies the Woman and her seed with Mary and Christ.