Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
Parallel translations
- WEB It will yield thorns and thistles to you; and you will eat the herb of the field.
- BSB Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you, and you will eat the plants 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 5:5Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.
- Isa 7:23And it shall come to pass in that day, that every place shall be, where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silverlings, it shall even be for briers and thorns.
- Ps 104:14–15He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth;
- Matt 13:7And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:
- Prov 22:5Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.
- Job 31:40Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.
- Jer 4:3For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
- Isa 32:13Upon the land of my people shall come up thorns and briers; yea, upon all the houses of joy in the joyous city:
- Isa 5:6And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
- Josh 23:13Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you.
- Heb 6:8But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned.
- Ps 90:3Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
- Job 1:21And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
- Ps 104:2Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:
- Prov 24:31And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down.
- Jer 12:13They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit: and they shall be ashamed of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
- Rom 14:2For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.
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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.