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 (Gen. 3:16, King James Version).

Adam and Eve sinned in Genesis 3 and God pronounced judgment upon them by adding difficulty, pain, and sorrow to their temporal roles in life. Adam’s role of working with his hands to tend the land and reap its harvest became arduous and exhausting. Eve’s role in bearing children became so painful that labor pains became a metaphor for the most intense suffering of mankind. Eve’s sentence included the statement, “And thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”

What is the wife’s “desire” and the husband’s “rule” in Genesis 3:16? Whatever it means, is this part of the sentence or curse of sin? Is a man’s leadership over his wife designed to punish her? If it is a blessing for a man to lead his wife, why did God speak these words when pronouncing judgment against Eve?

Consider Various Translations of Genesis 3:16

Here is Genesis 3:16 in several additional translations:

To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you” (English Standard Version).

To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you” (New International Version).

He said to the woman, “I will increase your pain and your labor
when you give birth to children.
Yet, you will long for your husband,
and he will rule you” (God’s Word Translation).

The Amplified Bible is an expansion of the American Standard Version designed to bring out various shades of meaning in the original Hebrew and Greek texts. It translates the passage:

To the woman He said, I will greatly multiply your grief and your suffering in pregnancy and the pangs of childbearing; with spasms of distress you will bring forth children. Yet your desire and craving will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.

Kenneth Taylor’s paraphrase, which amounts to a commentary mixed with a translation, is called The Living Bible. It has strengths and weaknesses but should be used only as a resource when considering the interpretation of passages, not as an actual translation. The way he expressed the passage is very interesting:

Then God said to the woman, “You shall bear children in intense pain and suffering; yet even so, you shall welcome your husband’s affections, and he shall be your master.”

This indicates God would make the original bond of marriage so strong that it would overshadow the pain of childbearing, so that the original relationship would be preserved, not destroyed, by her punishment.

Some translations and commen-tators take the view that the woman’s subjection is part of the curse: The woman’s intense desire and affection for her husband will be disappointed by his domineering and lording it over her. The Easy-to-Read-Version says in the latter part of the verse, “You will want your husband very much, but he will rule over you,” and The Message, billed as an idiomatic translation but really a paraphrase by Eugene H. Peterson, says, “You’ll want to please your husband, but he’ll lord it over you.” Certainly it is true that some men do frustrate their good wives by acting like tyrants, but rather than such an attitude and such abuse being legislated by God to punish women, the Bible is replete with instructions forbidding men to treat their wives in this fashion!

Other translations give the thought a different turn by saying marriage will involve constant tension as husband and wife vie and battle for headship or control. The New English Bible translates the latter part of the verse, “You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate you.” This seems to suggest that marriage will hereafter be something like a boxing or wrestling match in which two competitors struggle to defeat each other. This is contrary to God’s instructions for both husband and wife throughout the Bible.

Genesis 3:16 Reinforces God’s Original Plan

From the beginning God created man as the leader of his family and his home. It is apparent from Genesis 2:18-24 that God created woman to complement man in this vital relationship. The wording of Genesis 2:24 shows that God put man in the role of leadership by the way it expresses him taking the initiative although two parties are involved in marriage: “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.” Of course, the clear implication is that his complement must also leave her home and cleave to him, but he initiates the marital relationship and thus he is manifestly responsible for leading it properly.

It is helpful to see how the Holy Spirit guided Paul to explain the imperative and the importance of men leading the local church in 1 Timothy 2:8-15:

I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting. In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. Notwithstanding she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity and holiness with sobriety.

Notice how verse 13 gives a reason men lead in the divine plan and order of things which shows God established this principle from the beginning before there was sin: “For Adam was first formed, then Eve.” Then, verse 14 reinforces that principle by showing that when Eve stepped ahead of Adam by eating the forbidden fruit and introducing it to him, she violated her role and misled Adam. The order of creation preceded the tragedy of sin, and so God ordained man’s leadership from the beginning.

Now, back to Genesis 3:16, God said, “Thy desire shall be to thy husband.” The Pulpit Commentary well explains that the Hebrew word “desire” used here means to have “a vehement longing” for something as in Song of Solomon 7:10 when Solomon’s wife says, “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.” But it may also express simple “deferential submissiveness,” which is how the Jewish scholars understood it about 250-200 B.C. when translating the Hebrew Bible into the Greek Septuagint translation (abbreviated LXX). “Following the LXX. (apostrophe), Murphy explains it as meaning, ‘The determination of thy will shall be yielded to thy husband’” (http://biblehub.com/genesis/3-16.htm).

Whether the emphasis be on intense longing for the husband or on deference to him, the core idea is this: The wife focuses on her husband, yields herself to him, and finds fulfillment in him. Thus, the two lives complement each other as one, the two become one. This is a blessing not a curse and echoes Genesis 2:24, “And they shall be one flesh.”

The statement, “Thy desire shall be to thy husband,” is followed by a parallel statement necessary to complete the meaning: “And he shall rule over thee.” The Pulpit Commentary explains this coordinate concept as follows:

Not merely a prophecy of woman’s subjection, but an investiture of man with supremacy over the woman; or rather a confirmation and perpetuation of that authority which had been assigned to the man at the creation. Woman had been given him as an helpmeet (Genesis 2:18), and her relation to the man from the first was constituted one of dependence. It was the reversal of this Divinely-established order that had led to the fall (Genesi s 3:17). Henceforth, therefore, woman was to be relegated to, and fixed in, her proper sphere of subordination. On account of her subjection to man’s authority a wife is described as the possessed or subjected one of a lord (Genesis 20:3; Deuteronomy 20:22), and a husband as the lord of a woman (Exodus 21:3). Among the Hebrews the condition of the female sex was one of distinct subordination, though not of oppression, and certainly not of slavery, as it too often has been in heathen and Mohammedan countries. Christianity, while placing woman on the same platform with man as regards the blessings of the gospel (Galatians 3:28), explicitly inculcates her subordination to the man in the relationship of marriage (Ephesians 5:22; Colossians 3:18; 1 Peter 3:1) (http://biblehub.com/genesis/3-16.htm).

That is as good a summary as can be found of the meaning and application of the concept, “And he shall rule over thee.” It is indeed “a confirmation and perpetuation of that authority which had been assigned to the man at the creation.”

A Husband’s Rule Complemented by a Wife’s Submission: A Blessing Not a Curse

In other words, women will suffer greatly in childbearing as a consequence of Eve’s sin, a vivid reminder of God’s wrath against all sin and disobedience to His will. Yet, in spite of Eve’s sin of rebellion against God and against her proper role of submission to Adam, her role as man’s vital complement will be preserved. She will abide at her husband’s side to support him, yielding and submitting her will or desire to his leadership as ordained from the beginning. The events of Eve’s sin and punishment should reinforce the importance of following God’s instructions in all matters, and especially in a wife’s relationship to her husband.

Other passages teach the husband to rule and lead with unselfish love, cherishing his wife as a most valuable complement who makes his life complete, not abusing her or subjecting her to abject slavery. A husband who leads as God ordained gives his wife affection, protection, and security, fulfilling his role in such a manner as to make it pleasant for the wife to fulfill hers.

Ron Halbrook, 3505 Horse Run Ct., Shepherdsville, KY 40165-6954 (halbrook@twc.com)