Genesis 3:16 (WEB)
To the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. You will bear children in pain. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
As quoted in the map (KJV)
Genesis 3:16 (KJV)
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
Key words
- עִצָּבוֹןitstsabon · Hebrew
- 'sorrow,' painful toil; the same word is used of Adam's labour in the soil (3:17). Pain in childbearing is a consequence of the fall, not part of the original design.
- λύπηlypē · Greek (LXX)
- 'pain, grief' — the word Jesus uses in John 16:20–21 for the woman's sorrow in labour that turns to joy.
Why it matters
Pain in childbirth enters the world with the fall. Pitre draws out the Fathers' logic: because Mary is the New Eve, untouched by the sin that brought this curse, Irenaeus and Gregory of Nyssa held that she bore Christ at Bethlehem without labour pains, as Isaiah 66:7 foretells. Her real birth pangs were reserved for the cross, where she brought forth the children of God in sorrow (John 16:21; Revelation 12:2).
Catechism · 5
The Sacrament of Matrimony
“Their relations were distorted by mutual recriminations; their mutual attraction, the Creator's own gift, changed into a relationship of domination and lust;” — Catechism footnote: Cf. Gen 2:22; 3:16b.
“In his mercy God has not forsaken sinful man. the punishments consequent upon sin, "pain in childbearing" and toil "in the sweat of your brow,"” — Catechism footnote: Gen 3:16, 19.
The Seventh Commandment
“By enduring the hardship of work” — Catechism footnote: Cf. Gen 3:14-19.
Man
“As long as he remained in the divine intimacy, man would not have to suffer or die.” — Catechism footnote: Cf. Gen 2:17; 3:16, 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 · 22
Irenaeus of Lyons
“…reference to his works, as a certain person among the ancients has observed: “God did indeed transfer the curse to the earth, that it might not remain in man.”” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 16, etc.
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Ambrose of Milan
“Why should I further speak of the painful ministrations and services due to their husbands from wives, to whom before slaves God gave the command to serve?” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 16.
Read the whole comment“If the child comes to be born, the parent escapes not the shame of begetting.” — editor's note: St. Ambrose perhaps thought that the curse laid upon human conception and birth (Gen. iii. 16) displayed itself as well in the initial as in the final stages.
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Augustine of Hippo
“And as in his soul there is one power which rules by directing, another made subject that it might obey, so also for the man was corporeally made a woman, who, in the mind of her rational understanding should also have a like nature, in the sex, however, of her body should be in like manner subject to the sex of…” — editor's note: “‘Concipiendam,’ or the reading may be ‘concupiscendam,’ according to St. Augustin’s interpretation of Gen. iii. 16, in the De Gen. con. Manich. ii. 15. ‘As an…
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“In figure of her, Eve was called also “the Mother of all living.”” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 16, 20.
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
Read the whole comment“For when He had said to her, “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow shall thou bring forth children,” then He added, “and thy turning shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 16.
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Gregory the Great
“Whence even to the first mother of all it is said, In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children (Gen. iii. 16).” — the author cites it
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John Chrysostom
“There is not, “In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat thy bread,” nor “thorns and thistles” ( Gen. iii. 19, 18 ); no longer, “In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, and to thy husband shall be thy desire and he shall rule over thee.” ( Gen. iii. 16.)” — the author cites it
Read the whole comment“For, saith He, “In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children;” and, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread;”and, “In the world ye shall have tribulation.”” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 16, 19.
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Catena Aurea on John
- John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on John
“(Gen. 3:16) All hindrances then being removed, and every thing made straight, (πατωρθωται.) he adds, As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you.” — the author cites it
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Jerome
“And when He continues, “Thy desire shall be to thy husband,” say again: “Let her desire be to her husband who has not Christ for her spouse.”” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 16.
Read the whole comment“Her desire is to be to her husband that he should rule over her.” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 16.
Read the whole comment“…women since the day when it was said to Eve, “in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband and he shall rule over thee.”” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 16.
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Cyprian of Carthage
““I will multiply,” says God to the woman, “thy sorrows and thy groanings; and in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 16.
Read the whole comment“In Genesis: “Multiplying I will multiply thy sorrows and thy groanings, and in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children; and thy turning shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 16.
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Gregory of Nyssa
- Gregory of Nyssa, On Virginity On Virginity.12On Virginity
“…skins of dead animals; and then were sent forth into this pestilential and exacting land where, as the compensation for having to die, marriage was instituted.” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 16.
Read the whole comment - Gregory of Nyssa, On Virginity On Virginity.13On Virginity
“When the verdict that was pronounced on the delinquents in the beginning is annulled, then too the mothers’ “sorrows” are no longer “multiplied,” nor does “sorrow” herald the births of men; then all calamity has been removed from life and “tears wiped from off all faces;”…” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 16.
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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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Tertullian
“Woman is at once condemned to bring forth in sorrow, and to serve her husband, although before she had heard without pain the increase of her race proclaimed with the blessing, Increase and multiply, and although she had been destined to be a help and not a slave to her male partner.” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 16.
Read the whole comment“…he has already shown when he covers the woman that prophesies with a veil), he goes to the law for his sanction that woman should be under obedience.” — editor's note: 1 Cor. xiv. 34, where Gen. iii. 16 is referred to.
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Cross-references · 32
Cited together in The City of God XV.7.
Cited together in The City of God XV.7.
Cited together in Epistles, Books IX–XIV XI.30.
Cited together in Epistles, Books IX–XIV XI.30.
Cited together in Epistles, Books IX–XIV XI.30.
Cited together in Epistles, Books IX–XIV XI.30.
Cited together in Epistles, Books IX–XIV XI.30.
Cited together in On the Holy Trinity XIII.12.
Cited together in On Virginity On Virginity.13.
Cited together in On Virginity On Virginity.12.
Cited together in On Virginity On Virginity.12.
Cited together in On Virginity On Virginity.13.
Cited together in Concerning Virgins I.6.
Cited together in John Chrysostom on John 20:19–25 (5) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Catechism §400.
Cited together in The City of God XV.7 and 1 other place.
Cited together in On Virginity On Virginity.13.
Cited together in The City of God XV.7.
Cited together in Catechism §400.
Cited together in Concerning Virgins I.6.
Cited together in Concerning Virgins I.6.
Cited together in Concerning Virgins I.6.
Cited together in On the Holy Trinity XIII.12.
Cited together in The City of God XV.7.
Cited together in Catechism §2427.
Cited together in Catechism §2427.
Cited together in On Virginity On Virginity.13.
Cited together in The City of God XV.7.
Cited together in Catechism §1607 and 1 other place.
Cited together in Catechism §376 and 2 other places.
Cited together in Catechism §1607.
Cited together in Catechism §376.