• Genesis 3:16 To the woman he said,
    "I will greatly increase your labor pains;
    with pain you will give birth to children.
    You will want to control your husband,
    but he will dominate you."

The NET Bible, quoted above, translates this verse accurately. However, many translations are less clear on the meaning of this verse. For instanct, the NIV translates this verse as the following:

To the woman he said,
"I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing;
with pain you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
and he will rule over you."

The question is, What is the desire being spoken of here? The answer is, The desire of woman is to rule over her husband.

Two Views

The arguments for a sexual interpretation (Eve would desire Adam sexually) are as follows:

  1. The subject at hand is clearly the relationship between man and women.
  2. The word translated "desire" is used in Song of Songs 7:10Song of Songs 7:10
    I am my beloved's,
    and he desires me!     in a sexual manner.

This sexual view, however, can be easily dismissed. The control interpretation (Eve would want to control Adam) fits better with the facts:

  1. The sexual view does not make sense in light of the phrase, "but he will dominate you."
  2. The sexual view suggests that sexual desire is punishment, and also that sexual desire did not exist before the fall.
  3. In Genesis 4:7Genesis 4:7
    "Is it not true that if you do what is right, you will be fine? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it."    , the same word translated "desire" is used to describe sin's desire to control Cain. Even in Song of Songs 7:10Song of Songs 7:10
    I am my beloved's,
    and he desires me!    , the word may imply the desire to control someone sexually.
  4. What we see in our modern world is consistent with woman desiring to control man (female preachers, feminism, disobedient wives, etc).
  5. The obvious context of the passage suggests that it is describing a struggle, as punishment for sin. This leads us to understand woman wanting to control man.

Comments? Corrections?

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