What Does Genesis 3:14 Mean in the King James?
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:
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 Hebrew name for the serpent shares its consonants with a verb for reading omens, so the verse’s addressee carries an echo of hidden-sign reading.
THE MEANING
Consequence here is bodily: the one addressed stands under a curse, moves on its belly, and eats dust through every day of its life. Movement and sustenance carry the sentence tied to the deed.
THE ROOT
נָחָשׁ
nāḥāš
GROWS FROM
נחש
serpent; the same consonants also form a verb for divining by omens
The same consonants name the serpent and form a verb meaning to interpret omens. Their shared sound-shape keeps the serpent near the act of reading hidden signs, an association the English word does not carry.
ALSO GROWS
nāḥāš: Serpent
נָחָשׁ
This is the word used for the one addressed in the verse.
niḥēš: Practiced divination or interpreted omens
נִחֵשׁ
Its consonants match the serpent’s name, bringing the language of hidden signs into the verse’s sound-pattern.
אָרוּר
ʾārūr
GROWS FROM
ארר
to curse
“cursed” in this verse is ʾārūr. The sentence names the serpent’s condition as a curse, then gives that condition a bodily shape: belly-level movement and dust for food. The curse is not left abstract; it marks the serpent’s whole way of living.
ALSO GROWS
ʾārar: To curse
אָרַר
This verb is the action behind the serpent’s being called cursed.
ʾārūr: Cursed
אָרוּר
This form names the state declared over the serpent.
תֹּאכַל
tōʾkhal
GROWS FROM
אכל
to eat, consume
“eat” in this verse is tōʾkhal. Hebrew keeps the verb for eating and words for food within the same consonantal root. Dust is therefore not merely what lies beneath the serpent; it is named as the substance it consumes throughout its life.
ALSO GROWS
ʾōkhel: Food
אֹכֶל
The noun shares the root of the verse’s verb for eating, joining the act of consumption to what is consumed.
maʾăkhal: Food or something eaten
מַאֲכָל
This branch carries the same root into the substance eaten, sharpening the force of dust as the serpent’s assigned food.
THE PATTERN
The serpent’s power is portrayed through bodily descent, until it is underfoot or reduced to dust.
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.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.And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.THE THREAD
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.Isaiah repeats the serpent’s dust as its food, using the same Hebrew word עָפָר (ʿāfār, dust) as this verse. The shared word carries the serpent’s lowered condition into a vision of restored peace.
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