Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
Parallel translations
- WEB It will yield thorns and thistles to you; and you will eat the herb of the field.
- KJV Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
- NKJV Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.
- NASB “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; Yet you shall eat the plants of the field;
- NLT It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The cursed ground will now produce thorns and thistles, making survival a struggle. It pictures the frustration sin introduces into human work.
Overview
Thorns and thistles symbolize the resistance creation now offers to human effort, a sign of the broken harmony between people and the earth. Daily bread must be wrested from a reluctant ground. Fittingly, the King who would bear the curse for us was crowned with thorns (Matthew 27:29), taking the sign of the curse upon Himself.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Job 5:5The hungry consume his harvest, taking it even from the thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth.
- Isa 7:23And on that day, in every place that had a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver, only briers and thorns will be found.
- Ps 104:14–15He makes the grass grow for the livestock and provides crops for man to cultivate, bringing forth food from the earth:
- Matt 13:7Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings.
- Prov 22:5Thorns and snares lie on the path of the perverse; he who guards his soul stays far from them.
- Job 31:40then let briers grow instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.” Thus conclude the words of Job.
- Jer 4:3For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground, and do not sow among the thorns.
- Isa 32:13and for the land of my people, overgrown with thorns and briers—even for every house of merriment in this city of revelry.
- Isa 5:6I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and thorns and briers will grow up. I will command the clouds that rain shall not fall on it.”
- Josh 23:13know for sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become for you a snare and a trap, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you.
- Heb 6:8But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless, and its curse is imminent. In the end it will be burned.
- Ps 90:3You return man to dust, saying, “Return, O sons of mortals.”
- Job 1:21saying: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
- Ps 104:2He wraps Himself in light as with a garment; He stretches out the heavens like a tent,
- Prov 24:31Thorns had grown up everywhere, thistles had covered the ground, and the stone wall was broken down.
- Jer 12:13They have sown wheat but harvested thorns. They have exhausted themselves to no avail. Bear the shame of your harvest because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”
- Rom 14:2For one person has faith to eat all things, while another, who is weak, eats only vegetables.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 3:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.