Genesis 3:19 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Genesis 3:19
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
perspiration · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
face
אַפֶּ֙יךָ֙'a.Pei.kha
H639
properly · noun, common masculine dual construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
eat
תֹּ֣אכַלTo.khal
H398
to eat (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
bread
לֶ֔חֶםLe.chem
H3899
food (for man or beast) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
till
עַ֤ד'ad
H5704
as far (or long · preposition
return
שֽׁוּבְךָ֙shu.ve.Kha
H7725
to turn back (hence · verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
ground
הָ֣אֲדָמָ֔הha.'a.da.Mah
H127
soil (from its general redness) · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
taken
לֻקָּ֑חְתָּlu.Ka.che.ta
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · verb, pual perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
dust
עָפָ֣רa.Far
H6083
dust (as powdered or gray) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
thou
אַ֔תָּה'A.tah
H859
thou and thee · personal pronoun, 2nd person masculine singular
dust
עָפָ֖ר'a.Far
H6083
dust (as powdered or gray) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
return
תָּשֽׁוּבta.Shuv
H7725
to turn back (hence · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ecclesiastes 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
Job 34:15 All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.
Psalms 104:29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.
Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Psalms 90:3 Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
Ephesians 4:28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him…
Ecclesiastes 3:20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
1 Corinthians 15:21-22 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 3:17-19
We have here the sentence passed upon Adam, which is prefaced with a recital of his crime: Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of thy wife, Gen 3:17. He excused the fault, by laying it on his wife: She gave it me. But God does not admit the excuse. She could but tempt him, she could not force him; though it was her fault to persuade him to eat, it was his fault to hearken to her. Thus men's frivolous pleas will, in the day of God's judgment, not only be overruled, but turned against them, and made the grounds of their sentence. Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee. Observe,
I. God put marks of his displeasure on Adam in three instances: -
1. His habitation is, by this sentence, cur…
till thou return unto the ground--Man became mortal; although he did not die the moment he ate the forbidden fruit, his body underwent a change, and that would lead to dissolution; the union subsisting between his soul and God having already been dissolved, he had become liable to all the miseries of this life and to the pains of hell for ever. What a mournful chapter this is in the history of man! It gives the only true account of the origin of all the physical and moral evils that are in the world; upholds the moral character of God; shows that man, made upright, fell from not being able to resist a slight temptation; and becoming guilty and miserable, plunged all his posterity into the sa…
In the sweat of thy face - Though the whole body may be thrown into a profuse sweat, if hard labor be long continued, yet the face or forehead is the first part whence this sweat begins to issue; this is occasioned by the blood being strongly propelled to the brain, partly through stooping, but principally by the strong action of the muscles; in consequence of this the blood vessels about the head become turgid through the great flux of blood, the fibres are relaxed, the pores enlarged, and the sweat or serum poured out. Thus then the very commencement of every man's labor may put him in mind of his sin and its consequences.
Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return - God had said that…
The Church Fathers
But this, dearest brothers, we must greatly consider on this solemnity: that on this day the handwriting of our condemnation has been blotted out, the sentence of our corruption has been changed. For that nature to which it was said, "You are earth, and to earth you will go," today went to heaven.
By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Here, understand that bread to be the one who says: I am the bread of life, who came down from heaven (John 6:51); which we eat by the sweat of our face, because we ascend to the sight of divine exaltation only through the labor of necessary affliction.
Our flesh indeed is considered by the uneducated and by unbelievers to perish so completely after death that nothing whatever of its substance is left. We, however, who believe in its resurrection, know that death only causes a change in it and that its substance certainly persists and is restored to life again at a definite time by the will of its Creator and once more undergoes a transformation. What was at first flesh, "from the earth, a man of dust," and was then dissolved through death and again made dust and ashes—for "dust you are," it is written, "and unto dust shall you return"—is raised again from the earth. Afterwards, as the merits of the indwelling soul shall demand, the person advances to the glory of a spiritual body.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Adam — Red, a Babylonian word, the generic name for man, having the same meaning in the Hebrew and the Assyrian languages. It was the name given to the first man, whose creation, fall, and subsequent…
Death — May be simply defined as the termination of life. It is represented under a variety of aspects in Scripture: (1.) “The dust shall return to the earth as it was” (Eccl. 12:7). (2.) “Thou takest away…
Devil — (Gr. diabolos), a slanderer, the arch-enemy of man’s spiritual interest (Job 1:6; Rev. 2:10; Zech. 3:1). He is called also “the accuser of the brethen” (Rev. 12:10). In Lev. 17:7 the word “devil” is…
Serpent — (Heb. nahash; Gr. ophis), frequently noticed in Scripture. More than forty species are found in Syria and Arabia. The poisonous character of the serpent is alluded to in Jacob’s blessing on Dan (Gen.…
Tree of the knowledge of good and evil — Stood in the midst of the garden of Eden, beside the tree of life (Gen. 2, 3). Adam and Eve were forbidden to take of the fruit which grew upon it. But they disobeyed the divine injunction, and so…
Afflictions · Consequent upon the fall — Consequent upon the fall
Afflictions And Adversities · .Consequent upon the fall — .Consequent upon the fall
Agriculture · Divine institution of — Divine institution of
Agriculture Or Husbandry · Rendered laborious by the curse on the earth — Rendered laborious by the curse on the earth
Bread · Often put for the whole substance of man — Often put for the whole substance of man
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,.... Or "of thy nose" (f), sweat appearing first and chiefly on the forehead, from whence it trickles down by the nose in persons employed in hard labour; and here it takes in all the labour used in cultivating the earth for the production of herbs, and particularly of corn, of which bread is made; with respect to which there are various operations in which men sweat, such as ploughing, sowing, reaping, threshing, winnowing, grinding, sifting, kneading, and baking; and it may have regard to all methods and means by which men get their bread, and not without sweat; and even such exercises as depend upon the brain are not excused from such an expen…
In the sweat of thy face. Some indeed, translate it labor;' the translation, however, is forced. But by "sweat" is understood hard labor and full of fatigue and weariness, which, by its difficulty produces sweat. It is a repetition of the former sentence, where it was said, Thou shalt eat it in labor.' Under the cover of this passage, certain ignorant persons would rashly impel all men to manual labor; for God is not here teaching as a master or legislator, but only denouncing punishment as a judge. And, truly, if a law had been here prescribed, it would be necessary for all to become husband men, nor would any place be given to mechanical arts; we must go out of the world to seek for clothi…
It was not till the prospect of victory had been presented, that a sentence of punishment was pronounced upon both the man and the woman on account of their sin. The woman, who had broken the divine command for the sake of earthly enjoyment, was punished in consequence with the sorrows and pains of pregnancy and childbirth. "I will greatly multiply (הרבּה is the inf. abs. for הרבּה, which had become an adverb: vid., Ewald, 240c, as in Gen 16:10 and Gen 22:17) thy sorrow and thy pregnancy: in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children." As the increase of conceptions, regarded as the fulfilment of the blessing to "be fruitful and multiply" (Gen 1:28), could be no punishment, והרנך must be underst…
God highlighted his original command not to eat the fruit by speaking of eating several times in 3:17-19. The judgment affected humanity’s ability to get food, and it was proportionate to their offense of eating what had been prohibited. • the ground is cursed: The relationship of the man to the ground (see study note on 2:7) was now antagonistic as judgment fell on his primary role (2:5, 15). He must labor and toil to work the ground, but with diminished productivity. Human sin has broad effects on creation (see 4:12; 6:7; Lev 26; Deut 11:13-17, 28; Rom 8:22).
Rashi on Genesis 3:16
ואל אישך תשוקתך AND TO YOUR HUSBAND WILL BE YOUR DESIRE — for sexual relations. And, nonetheless, you will not have the temerity to proposition him with [your] mouth, but rather HE WILL RULE OVER YOU — everything will come from him and not from you.
Curse · .Against Adam and Eve — .Against Adam and Eve
Death · .RETURNING TO DUST — .RETURNING TO DUST
Death, Natural · By Adam — By Adam
Dust · Man ma — Man ma
Embalming · An attempt to defeat God’s purpose — An attempt to defeat God’s purpose
Fall Of Man · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Fall Of Man, The · Punishment consequent upon: Condemnation to labour and sorrow — Punishment consequent upon: Condemnation to labour and sorrow
God · .To Adam — .To Adam
Ground · Man ma — Man ma
Judgments · Adam — Adam
Labor · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Life, Natural · Forfeited by sin — Forfeited by sin
Man · Punished for disobedience — Punished for disobedience
Sin · Toil and sorrow originated in — Toil and sorrow originated in
Sweat · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
