Adam’s Curse

Genesis 3:17–19, 23

Works of art by Vincent van Gogh, Jan Gossaert, and Anselm Kiefer
Commentaries by Ben Quash

Genesis 3:17–19, 23

Bible passage (Revised Standard Version)

Genesis 3

17And to Adam he said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,

and have eaten of the tree

of which I commanded you,

‘You shall not eat of it,’

cursed is the ground because of you;

in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

18thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you;

and you shall eat the plants of the field.

19In the sweat of your face

you shall eat bread

till you return to the ground,

for out of it you were taken;

you are dust,

and to dust you shall return.”

 

23therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.