אֶֽל־הָאִשָּׁ֣ה אָמַ֗ר הַרְבָּ֤ה אַרְבֶּה֙ עִצְּבוֹנֵ֣ךְ וְהֵֽרֹנֵ֔ךְ בְּעֶ֖צֶב תֵּֽלְדִ֣י בָנִ֑ים וְאֶל־אִישֵׁךְ֙ תְּשׁ֣וּקָתֵ֔ךְ וְה֖וּא יִמְשָׁל־בָּֽךְ׃ ס
16To the woman he said,
“I will make your pangs in childbirth exceedingly great;
in pain you shall bring forth children,
yet your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.”
The Hebrew, Ge’ez, and Greek that is translated as “bear (a child)” or “give birth to” is translated in Mairasi as “go to the forest,” reflecting the traditional place of childbirth for Mairasi women. (Source: Enggavoter 2004)
In Spanish it is translated as dar a luz, literally “to give to light.” Likewise, in Portuguese (dar à luz) and Italian (dare alla luce). (Source: Mark Terwilliger)
See also in childbirth / travail and birth.
The Greek, Latin and Hebrew that are translated as “(become) pregnant” in English is rendered as “got belly” (Sranan Tongo and Kituba) as “having two bodies” (Indonesian), as “be-of-womb” (Sinhala), as “heavy” (Balinese), and as “in-a-fortunate-state” (Batak Toba). (Source: Reiling / Swellengrebel)
In Kafa it is translated as “having two lives” (source: Loren Bliese), in Southern Birifor as tara pʊɔ or “having stomach,” in Kamba as “be-heavy” (source for this and above: Andy Warren-Rothlin), in the Swabian 2007 translation by Rudolf Paul as kommt en andere Omständ, lit. “be in different circumstances,” and in Newari as “have in the womb” (source: Newari Back Translation).
In Mairasi it is translated as “have a soul [ghost].” (Source: Enggavoter, 2004)
Artwork by Sister Marie Claire , SMMI (1937–2018) from Bengaluru, India.
For more information about images by Sister Marie Claire and ways to purchase them as lithographs, see here .
For other images of Sister Marie Claire paintings in TIPs, see here.
The following is a stained glass window from the Three choir windows in the Marienkirche, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany, of the 14th century, depicting God judging Adam and Eve:
Source: Der gläserne Schatz: Die Bilderbibel der St. Marienkirche in Frankfurt (Oder), Neuer Berlin Verlag, 2005, copyright for this image: Brandenburgisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologisches Landesmuseum
Stained glass is not just highly decorative, it’s a medium which has been used to express important religious messages for centuries. Literacy was not widespread in the medieval and Renaissance periods and the Church used stained glass and other artworks to teach the central beliefs of Christianity. In Gothic churches, the windows were filled with extensive narrative scenes in stained glass — like huge and colorful picture storybooks — in which worshipers could ‘read’ the stories of Christ and the saints and learn what was required for their religious salvation. (Source: Victoria and Albert Museum )
See also other stained glass windows from the Marienkirche in Frankfurt.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 3:16:
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the choice of a first person singular and plural pronoun (“I” and “we” and its various forms) as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. The most commonly used watashi/watakushi (私) is typically used when the speaker is humble and asking for help. In these verses, where God / Jesus is referring to himself, watashi is also used but instead of the kanji writing system (私) the syllabary hiragana (わたし) is used to distinguish God from others.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
See also pronoun for “God”.
Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way Japanese shows different degree of politeness is through the usage of an honorific construction where the morpheme are (され) is affixed on the verb as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. This is particularly done with verbs that have God as the agent to show a deep sense of reverence. Here, iw-are-ru (言われる) or “say” is used.
(Source: S. E. Doi, see also S. E. Doi in Journal of Translation, 18/2022, p. 37ff. )
In verse 16 God addresses the woman.
I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing: this is not in the form of a curse, as in the case of the snake, although the content has the effect of a curse. Greatly multiply translates a Hebrew intensive construction: “I will very much increase, make worse your pain.” Pain translates a word meaning “trouble, difficulty, labor.” Childbearing is literally “conception.” The focus is not upon the act of conception but rather upon the state of pregnancy, and so Bible en français courant has “I will make your pregnancies painful,” and Good News Translation “… increase your trouble in pregnancy.”
In pain you shall bring forth children: the word pain is the same as above. Here, however, the reference is to labor pains that accompany childbirth, and these are represented as punishment for the woman’s disobedience. In translation the words for pain in both clauses should be terms associated with pregnancy and labor pains.
Yet your desire shall be for your husband: yet translates the usual Hebrew connective, but the context indicates a contrast. Good News Translation has “in spite of this.” Desire translates a noun meaning “urge, want, yearning, longing.” The sense is that of “attraction” and is used in Song 7.10 of the man’s desire for the woman. Bible en français courant translates “You will feel yourself drawn to your husband,” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “but your desire will take you to your husband.” Since desire is a general term, it may be too vague in translation or may suggest more than is intended. In such cases it may be better to say, for example, “you will still want to be with your husband,” “you will still want to remain close to your husband.” “Still” here emphasizes the continuing of the desire. In some translations this is expressed as “you will keep on wanting your husband.” For husband see 3.6.
And he shall rule over you: and links this clause with the previous statement. The traditional understanding of the verb rendered rule over is “to dominate, control, be master over.” Rule has the sense of compelling someone to do what the ruler wishes. In some languages this idea may be expressed as “he will still be your master,” “he will have the power to command you,” or “he will be able to make you do what he wants.”
Although all modern translations understand rule over as the man dominating or controlling the woman, some scholars argue that this text, and the Old Testament generally, do not support that interpretation. The Hebrew word rendered rule over is mashal, which can also be understood to mean “to be like.” Accordingly some interpreters understand that the man will “be like” the woman in wanting to be with her just as she desires to be with him. With this in mind we may translate the last two lines of Revised Standard Version as “you will want to be with your husband just as he likewise will want to be with you” or “your desire will be for your husband, just as his desire will be for you.” If this rendering is not placed in the text, it may be placed in a footnote.
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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