What Does Genesis 3:12 Mean in the King James?
And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The same Hebrew verb makes the verse a chain of gifts that ends with an admitted act framed through someone else’s giving.
THE MEANING
You can name what you did and still arrange the account so its cause sits elsewhere. Here, “I did eat” is spoken plainly, after the repeated claim that God and the woman gave; the act is admitted while its framing points outward.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that saying “I did it” automatically means owning your part: the act can be admitted while its cause is assigned outward.
THE ROOT
נָתַתָּה
natattah
GROWS FROM
נתן
To give, put, set, or place.
The Hebrew repeats the same verb: first Adam says God “gave” the woman, then the woman “gave” him fruit. The root also carries the sense of placing or setting, so the repeated giving arranges a chain of causes around Adam; he still says “I ate,” but his own act arrives last.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: Gift, present.
מַתָּנָה
This noun keeps giving attached to what is handed over, illuminating the verse’s chain of giver and receiver.
nathun: Given, placed, set.
נָתוּן
The root can describe what is placed into someone’s hands or position, echoing how the man frames his action around what others gave.
THE PATTERN
A speaker can acknowledge an act while arranging its explanation around another’s contribution.
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.And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.THE THREAD
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.The phrase “gave also” in Genesis 3:6 uses the same root, נתן (natan, give), that Adam repeats in Genesis 3:12. In one verse the giving passes the fruit; in the next, it becomes the frame through which he tells of his eating.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us