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.
Catechism · 2
The Seventh Commandment
“By enduring the hardship of work” — Catechism footnote: Cf. Gen 3:14-19.
The Fall
“The harmony in which they had found themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed: the control of the soul's spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination.” — Catechism footnote: Cf. Gen 3:7-16.
Fathers and councils · 13
Irenaeus of Lyons
““And God,” it is declared, “said to the serpent: Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou above all cattle, and above all the beasts of the earth.”” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 14.
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Ambrose of Milan
“For this is the sentence of condemnation on the serpent: “Dust shall be thy food.”” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 14.
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Augustine of Hippo
“For he is not only called a lion, but a serpent too, to whom it was said, “Earth shalt thou eat.”” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 14.
Read the whole comment“But they cleave unto earthly things, as though earthborn they mind the earth, and are earth, the serpent’s food.” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 14.
Read the whole comment“For if an angel is able to use air, mist, cloud, fire, and any other natural substance or corporal species; and man to use face, tongue, hand, pen, letters, or any other significants, for the purpose of intimating the secret things of his own mind: in a word, if,…” — editor's note: [Judg. xiii. 20. This mysterious subject may be illustrated from Holy Scripture so as to justify our author’s very broad statement. It throws light on Gen.…
Read the whole comment“For where it is said to the serpent, “Dust thou shalt eat,” it is said to the transgressor, “Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.”” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 14, 19.
Read the whole comment“This delivering up is first signified in Genesis, where, when it had been said to the serpent, “Dust shalt thou eat,” it was said to the man, “Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shall return.”” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 14–19
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Jerome
“Bonosus has his heel already on the serpent’s head, whilst I am still as food to the same serpent which by divine appointment devours the earth.” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 14.
Read the whole comment“No, the earth yields only thorns and thistles, and its dust is food for the serpent.” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 14, 18.
Read the whole comment“Therefore, if the scorpion looks askance upon her purpose, and with alluring words tempts her once more to eat of the forbidden tree, she must crush him beneath her feet with a curse, and say, as he lies dying in his allotted dust: “Get thee behind me, Satan.”” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 14.
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Gregory of Nazianzus
“This is why the heathen rage and the peoples imagine vain things; why tree is set over against tree, hands against hand, the one stretched out in self indulgence, the others in generosity; the one unrestrained, the others fixed by nails, the one expelling Adam, the other reconciling the ends of the earth.” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 6–23.
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Gregory the Great
“Whence also to the cunning foe, who opened the sense of the first man by lust for the apple, but bound it in a noose of sin, it is said by the divine voice, On breast and belly shalt thou creep (Gen. iii. 14); as if it were plainly said to him, In thought and in maw thou shalt have dominion over human hearts.” — the author cites it
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Cyprian of Carthage
“He shall regard thy head, and thou shalt watch his heel.”” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 14, 15.
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Cross-references · 25
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.13.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.13.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.13.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.13.
Cited together in On the Holy Trinity XIII.12.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.13.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.13.
Cited together in Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews II.10.
Cited together in Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews II.10.
Cited together in Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews II.10.
Cited together in Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews II.10.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.13.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.13.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.13.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.13.
Cited together in Catechism §400.
Cited together in Catechism §400.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.13.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.13.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance I.13.
Cited together in On the Holy Trinity XIII.12.
Cited together in Catechism §2427.
Cited together in Catechism §2427.
Cited together in Catechism §2427.
Cited together in Catechism §400.