Genesis 3:14

3:14 The Lord God said to the serpent, ¹ 

“Because you have done this,

cursed ²  are you above all the wild beasts

and all the living creatures of the field!

On your belly you will crawl ³ 

and dust you will eat ⁴  all the days of your life.

Genesis 8:9

8:9 The dove could not find a resting place for its feet because water still covered ⁵  the surface of the entire earth, and so it returned to Noah ⁶  in the ark. He stretched out his hand, took the dove, ⁷  and brought it back into the ark. ⁸ 

Genesis 37:22

37:22 Reuben continued, ⁹  “Don’t shed blood! Throw him into this cistern that is here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” ¹⁰  (Reuben said this ¹¹  so he could rescue Joseph ¹²  from them ¹³  and take him back to his father.)

Genesis 42:38

42:38 But Jacob ¹⁴  replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. ¹⁵  If an accident happens to him on the journey you have to make, then you will bring down my gray hair ¹⁶  in sorrow to the grave.” ¹⁷ 

¹ sn Note that God asks no question of the serpent, does not call for confession, as he did to the man and the woman; there is only the announcement of the curse. The order in this section is chiastic: The man is questioned, the woman is questioned, the serpent is cursed, sentence is passed on the woman, sentence is passed on the man.

² tn The Hebrew word translated “cursed,” a passive participle from אָרָר (’arar), either means “punished” or “banished,” depending on how one interprets the following preposition. If the preposition is taken as comparative, then the idea is “cursed [i.e., punished] are you above [i.e., more than] all the wild beasts.” In this case the comparative preposition reflects the earlier comparison: The serpent was more shrewd than all others, and so more cursed than all others. If the preposition is taken as separative (see the note on the word “ground” in 4:11), then the idea is “cursed and banished from all the wild beasts.” In this case the serpent is condemned to isolation from all the other animals.

³ tn Heb “go”; “walk,” but in English “crawl” or “slither” better describes a serpent’s movement.

⁴ sn Dust you will eat. Being restricted to crawling on the ground would necessarily involve “eating dust,” although that is not the diet of the serpent. The idea of being brought low, of “eating dust” as it were, is a symbol of humiliation.

⁵ tn The words “still covered” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁶ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Noah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the dove) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁸ tn Heb “and he brought it to himself to the ark.”

⁹ tn Heb “and Reuben said to them.”

¹⁰ sn The verbs translated shed, throw, and lay sound alike in Hebrew; the repetition of similar sounds draws attention to Reuben’s words.

¹¹ tn The words “Reuben said this” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹² tn Heb “him”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹³ tn Heb “from their hands” (cf. v. 21). This expression has been translated as “them” here for stylistic reasons.

¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁴ sn The expression he alone is left meant that (so far as Jacob knew) Benjamin was the only surviving child of his mother Rachel.

¹⁵ sn The expression bring down my gray hair is figurative, using a part for the whole – they would put Jacob in the grave. But the gray head signifies a long life of worry and trouble.

¹⁶ tn Heb “to Sheol,” the dwelling place of the dead.