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).