3:16 To the woman he said,
“I will greatly increase 2 your labor pains; 3
with pain you will give birth to children.
You will want to control your husband, 4
but he will dominate 5 you.”
30:3 “If a young 6 woman who is still living 7 in her father’s house makes a vow to the Lord or places herself under an obligation, 30:4 and her father hears of her vow or the obligation to which she has pledged herself, and her father remains silent about her, 8 then all her vows will stand, 9 and every obligation to which she has pledged herself will stand. 30:5 But if her father overrules her when he hears 10 about it, then none 11 of her vows or her obligations which she has pledged for herself will stand. And the Lord will release 12 her from it, because her father overruled her.
30:6 “And if she marries a husband while under a vow, 13 or she uttered 14 anything impulsively by which she has pledged herself, 30:7 and her husband hears about it, but remains silent about her when he hears about it, then her vows will stand and her obligations which she has pledged for herself will stand. 30:8 But if when her husband hears it he overrules her, then he will nullify 15 the vow she has taken, 16 and whatever she uttered impulsively which she has pledged for herself. And the Lord will release her from it.
30:9 “But every vow of a widow or of a divorced woman which she has pledged for herself will remain intact. 17 30:10 If she made the vow in her husband’s house or put herself under obligation with an oath, 30:11 and her husband heard about it, but remained silent about her, and did not overrule her, then all her vows will stand, and every obligation which she pledged for herself will stand. 30:12 But if her husband clearly nullifies 18 them when he hears them, then whatever she says 19 by way of vows or obligations will not stand. Her husband has made them void, and the Lord will release her from them.
30:13 “Any vow or sworn obligation that would bring affliction to her, 20 her husband can confirm or nullify. 21
1 sn A quotation from Isa 28:11-12.
2 tn The imperfect verb form is emphasized and intensified by the infinitive absolute from the same verb.
3 tn Heb “your pain and your conception,” suggesting to some interpreters that having a lot of children was a result of the judgment (probably to make up for the loss through death). But the next clause shows that the pain is associated with conception and childbirth. The two words form a hendiadys (where two words are joined to express one idea, like “good and angry” in English), the second explaining the first. “Conception,” if the correct meaning of the noun, must be figurative here since there is no pain in conception; it is a synecdoche, representing the entire process of childbirth and child rearing from the very start. However, recent etymological research suggests the noun is derived from a root הרר (hrr), not הרה (hrh), and means “trembling, pain” (see D. Tsumura, “A Note on הרוֹן (Gen 3,16),” Bib 75 [1994]: 398-400). In this case “pain and trembling” refers to the physical effects of childbirth. The word עִצְּבוֹן (’itsÿvon, “pain”), an abstract noun related to the verb (עָצַב, ’atsav), includes more than physical pain. It is emotional distress as well as physical pain. The same word is used in v. 17 for the man’s painful toil in the field.
4 tn Heb “and toward your husband [will be] your desire.” The nominal sentence does not have a verb; a future verb must be supplied, because the focus of the oracle is on the future struggle. The precise meaning of the noun תְּשׁוּקָה (tÿshuqah, “desire”) is debated. Many interpreters conclude that it refers to sexual desire here, because the subject of the passage is the relationship between a wife and her husband, and because the word is used in a romantic sense in Song 7:11 HT (7:10 ET). However, this interpretation makes little sense in Gen 3:16. First, it does not fit well with the assertion “he will dominate you.” Second, it implies that sexual desire was not part of the original creation, even though the man and the woman were told to multiply. And third, it ignores the usage of the word in Gen 4:7 where it refers to sin’s desire to control and dominate Cain. (Even in Song of Songs it carries the basic idea of “control,” for it describes the young man’s desire to “have his way sexually” with the young woman.) In Gen 3:16 the
5 tn The Hebrew verb מָשַׁל (mashal) means “to rule over,” but in a way that emphasizes powerful control, domination, or mastery. This also is part of the baser human nature. The translation assumes the imperfect verb form has an objective/indicative sense here. Another option is to understand it as having a modal, desiderative nuance, “but he will want to dominate you.” In this case, the
6 tn The qualification comes at the end of the verse, and simply says “in her youth.”
7 tn The Hebrew text just has “in her father’s house” and not “who is still living,” but that is the meaning of the line.
8 tn The intent of this expression is that he does not object to the vow.
9 tn The verb קוּם (qum) is best translated “stand” here, but the idea with it is that what she vows is established as a genuine oath with the father’s approval (or acquiescence).
10 tn The idiom is “in the day of,” but it is used in place of a preposition before the infinitive construct with its suffixed subjective genitive. The clause is temporal.
11 tn The Hebrew “all will not stand” is best rendered “none will stand.”
12 tn The verb has often been translated “forgive” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV, NLT), but that would suggest a sin that needed forgiving. The idea of “release from obligation” is better; the idea is like that of having a debt “forgiven” or “retired.” In other words, she is free from the vow she had made. The
13 tn Heb “and her vows are upon her.” It may be that the woman gets married while her vows are still unfulfilled.
14 tn The Hebrew text indicates that this would be some impetuous vow that she uttered with her lips, a vow that her husband, whether new or existing, would not approve of. Several translate it “a binding obligation rashly uttered.”
15 tn The verb is the Hiphil perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive from the verb פָּרַר (parar, “to annul”). The verb functions here as the equivalent of an imperfect tense; here it is the apodosis following the conditional clause – if this is the case, then this is what will happen.
16 tn Heb “which [she is] under it.”
17 tn The Hebrew text says her vow “shall stand against her.” In other words, she must fulfill, or bear the consequences of, whatever she vowed.
18 tn The verb is the imperfect tense in the conditional clause. It is intensified with the infinitive absolute, which would have the force of saying that he nullified them unequivocally, or he made them null and void.
19 tn Heb whatever proceeds from her lips.”
20 tn The sentence uses the infinitive construct לְעַנֹּת (lÿ’annot, “to afflict”), which is the same word used in the instructions for the day of atonement in which people are to afflict themselves (their souls). The case here may be that the woman would take a religious vow on such an occasion to humble herself, to mortify her flesh, to abstain from certain things, perhaps even sexual relations within marriage.
21 tn Heb “or her husband can nullify.”
22 sn Heb “If upon the king it is good”; KJV “If it please the king.” Deferential language was common in ancient Near Eastern court language addressing a despot; it occurs often in Esther.
23 sn Laws…that cannot be repealed. On the permanence of the laws of Media and Persia see also Esth 8:8 and Dan 6:8, 12, 15.
24 sn Previously in this chapter the word “queen” accompanies Vashti’s name (cf. vv. 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17). But here, in anticipation of her demotion, the title is dropped.
25 tn Heb “her neighbor”; NIV “someone else.”
26 tn Heb “who is better than she.” The reference is apparently to worthiness of the royal position as demonstrated by compliance with the king’s wishes, although the word טוֹב (tob, “good”) can also be used of physical beauty. Cf. NAB, NASB, NLT “more worthy than she.”
27 tn Heb “heard”; KJV, NAB, NLT “published”; NIV, NRSV “proclaimed.”
28 tc The phrase “vast though it is” is not included in the LXX, although it is retained by almost all English versions.