Genesis 3 · Verse 14

Genesis 3:14

And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
Genesis 3:14, King James Version

Genesis 3:14 in other translations

BSBSo the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life.
WEBThe LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed above all livestock, and above every animal of the field. You shall go on your belly and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.
ASVAnd Jehovah God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
YLTAnd Jehovah God saith unto the serpent, ‘Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou above all the cattle, and above every beast of the field: on thy belly dost thou go, and dust thou dost eat, all days of thy life;
DARBYAnd Jehovah Elohim said to the serpent, Because thou hast done this, be thou cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field. On thy belly shalt thou go, and eat dust all the days of thy life.
BBEAnd the Lord God said to the snake, Because you have done this you are cursed more than all cattle and every beast of the field; you will go flat on the earth, and dust will be your food all the days of your life:
WebsterAnd the LORD God said to the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field: upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

What does Genesis 3:14 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

Ge 3:14-24. The Sentence.

14. And the Lord God said unto the serpent--The Judge pronounces a doom: first, on the material serpent, which is cursed above all creatures. From being a model of grace and elegance in form, it has become the type of all that is odious, disgusting, and low [Le CLERC, Rosenmuller]; or the curse has converted its natural condition into a punishment; it is now branded with infamy and avoided with horror; next, on the spiritual serpent, the seducer. Already fallen, he was to be still more degraded and his power wholly destroyed by the offspring of those he had deceived.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent - The tempter is not asked why he deceived the woman; he cannot roll the blame on any other; self-tempted he fell, and it is natural for him, such is his enmity, to deceive and destroy all he can. His fault admits of no excuse, and therefore God begins to pronounce sentence on him first. And here we must consider a twofold sentence, one on Satan and the other on the agent he employed. The nachash, whom I suppose to have been at the head of all the inferior animals, and in a sort of society and intimacy with man, is to be greatly degraded, entirely banished from human society, and deprived of the gift of speech. Cursed art thou above all cattle, and above every beast of the field - thou shalt be considered the most contemptible of animals; upon thy belly shalt thou go - thou shalt no longer walk erect, but mark the ground equally with thy hands and feet; and dust shalt thou eat - though formerly possessed of the faculty to distinguish, choose, and cleanse thy food, thou shalt feed henceforth like the most stupid and abject quadruped, all the days of thy life - through all the innumerable generations of thy species. God saw meet to manifest his displeasure against the agent employed in this melancholy business; and perhaps this is founded on the part which the intelligent and subtle nachash took in the seduction of our first parents. We see that he was capable of it, and have some reason to believe that he became a willing instrument.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Genesis 3:14-15
God passes sentence; and he begins where the sin began, with the serpent. The devil's instruments must share in the devil's punishments. Under the cover of the serpent, the devil is sentenced to be degraded and accursed of God; detested and abhorred of all mankind: also to be destroyed and ruined at last by the great Redeemer, signified by the breaking of his head. War is proclaimed between the Seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. It is the fruit of this enmity, that there is a continual warfare between grace and corruption, in the hearts of God's people. Satan, by their corruptions, buffets them, sifts them, and seeks to devour them. Heaven and hell can never be reconciled, nor light and darkness; no more can Satan and a sanctified soul. Also, there is a continual struggle between the wicked and the godly in this world. A gracious promise is here made of Christ, as the Deliverer of fallen man from the power of Satan. Here was the drawn of the gospel day: no sooner was the wound given, than the remedy was provided and revealed. This gracious revelation of a Saviour came unasked, and unlooked for. Without a revelation of mercy, giving some hope of forgiveness, the convinced sinner would sink into despair, and be hardened. By faith in this promise, our first parents, and the patriarchs before the flood, were justified and saved. Notice is given concerning Christ. 1. His incarnation, or coming in the flesh. It speaks great encouragement to sinners, that their Saviour is the Seed of the woman, bone of our bone, He 2:11, 14. 2. His sufferings and death; pointed at in Satan's bruising his heel, that is, his human nature. And Christ's sufferings are continued in the sufferings of the saints for his name. The devil tempts them, persecutes and slays them; and so bruises the heel of Christ, who is afflicted in their afflictions. But while the heel is bruised on earth, the Head is in heaven. 3. His victory over Satan thereby. Christ baffled Satan's temptations, rescued souls out of his hands. By his death he gave a fatal blow to the devil's kingdom, a wound to the head of this serpent that cannot be healed. As the gospel gains ground, Satan falls.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Genesis 3:14 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיֹּאמֶר֩vai.yo.Merand he saidH559
יְהֹוָ֨הYah.wehYahwehH3068
אֱלֹהִ֥ים\׀'E.lo.HimGodH430
אֶֽל\־'el-toH413
הַנָּחָשׁ֮ha.na.Chashthe snakeH5175
כִּ֣יkiforH3588
עָשִׂ֣יתָ'a.Si.tayou have doneH6213
זֹּאת֒zoTthisH2063
אָר֤וּר'a.Rur[are] cursedH779
אַתָּה֙'a.TahyouH859
מִכָּל\־mi.kolmore than allH3605
הַבְּהֵמָ֔הha.be.he.Mah<the> livestockH929
וּמִכֹּ֖לu.mi.Koland more than everyH3605
חַיַּ֣תchai.Yat<the> animal ofH2416
הַשָּׂדֶ֑הha.sa.Dehthe fieldH7704
עַל\־'al-onH5921
גְּחֹנְךָ֣ge.cho.ne.Khabelly yourH1512
תֵלֵ֔ךְte.Lekhyou will goH1980
וְעָפָ֥רve.'a.Farand dustH6083
תֹּאכַ֖לto.Khalyou will eatH398
כָּל\־kol-allH3605
יְמֵ֥יye.Mei[the] days ofH3117
חַיֶּֽיךָ\׃chai.Yei.khalife yourH2416

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Genesis 3:14

  • Micah 7:17

    They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee.

  • Isaiah 65:25

    The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.

  • Psalms 72:9

    They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust.

  • Isaiah 29:4

    And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

  • Leviticus 20:25

    Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing that creepeth on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean.

  • Genesis 9:6

    Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

  • Deuteronomy 28:15-20

    But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. …

  • Exodus 21:28-32

    If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit. But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death. If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the ransom of his life whatsoever is laid upon him. Whether he have gored a son, or have gored a daughter, according to this judgment shall it be done unto him. …

  • Genesis 3:1

    Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
thou art.
1; 9:6; Ex 21:28-32; Le 20:25
dust.
Ps 72:9; Isa 29:4; 65:25; Mic 7:17

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Genesis 3:13

    And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

  • Genesis 3:14

    And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

  • Genesis 3:15

    And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Read all of Genesis 3

Genesis 3:14 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Y Jehová Dios dijo á la serpiente: Por cuanto esto hiciste, maldita serás entre todas las bestias y entre todos los animales del campo; sobre tu pecho andarás, y polvo comerás todos los días de tu vida:
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Et l’ Éternel Dieu dit au serpent: Parce que tu as fait cela, tu es maudit par-dessus tout le bétail et par-dessus toutes les bêtes des champs; tu marcheras sur ton ventre, et tu mangeras la poussière tous les jours de ta vie;
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und Jehova Gott sprach zu der Schlange: Weil du dieses getan hast, sollst du verflucht sein vor allem Vieh und vor allem Getier des Feldes! Auf deinem Bauche sollst du kriechen und Staub fressen alle Tage deines Lebens.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Et ait Dominus Deus ad serpentem: Quia fecisti hoc, maledictus es inter omnia animantia, et bestias terræ: super pectus tuum gradieris, et terram comedes cunctis diebus vitæ tuæ.