Genesis 3:14

3:14 The Lord God said to the serpent, ¹ 

“Because you have done this,

cursed ²  are you above all the wild beasts

and all the living creatures of the field!

On your belly you will crawl ³ 

and dust you will eat ⁴  all the days of your life.

Genesis 8:21

8:21 And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma ⁵  and said ⁶  to himself, ⁷  “I will never again curse ⁸  the ground because of humankind, even though ⁹  the inclination of their minds ¹⁰  is evil from childhood on. ¹¹  I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done.

Genesis 20:6

20:6 Then in the dream God replied to him, “Yes, I know that you have done this with a clear conscience. ¹²  That is why I have kept you ¹³  from sinning against me and why ¹⁴  I did not allow you to touch her.

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¹ sn Note that God asks no question of the serpent, does not call for confession, as he did to the man and the woman; there is only the announcement of the curse. The order in this section is chiastic: The man is questioned, the woman is questioned, the serpent is cursed, sentence is passed on the woman, sentence is passed on the man.

² tn The Hebrew word translated “cursed,” a passive participle from אָרָר (’arar), either means “punished” or “banished,” depending on how one interprets the following preposition. If the preposition is taken as comparative, then the idea is “cursed [i.e., punished] are you above [i.e., more than] all the wild beasts.” In this case the comparative preposition reflects the earlier comparison: The serpent was more shrewd than all others, and so more cursed than all others. If the preposition is taken as separative (see the note on the word “ground” in 4:11), then the idea is “cursed and banished from all the wild beasts.” In this case the serpent is condemned to isolation from all the other animals.

³ tn Heb “go”; “walk,” but in English “crawl” or “slither” better describes a serpent’s movement.

⁴ sn Dust you will eat. Being restricted to crawling on the ground would necessarily involve “eating dust,” although that is not the diet of the serpent. The idea of being brought low, of “eating dust” as it were, is a symbol of humiliation.

⁵ tn The Lord “smelled” (וַיָּרַח, vayyarakh) a “soothing smell” (רֵיחַ הַנִּיהֹחַ, reakh hannihoakh). The object forms a cognate accusative with the verb. The language is anthropomorphic. The offering had a sweet aroma that pleased or soothed. The expression in Lev 1 signifies that God accepts the offering with pleasure, and in accepting the offering he accepts the worshiper.

⁶ tn Heb “and the Lord said.”

⁷ tn Heb “in his heart.”

⁸ tn Here the Hebrew word translated “curse” is קָלָל (qalal), used in the Piel verbal stem.

⁹ tn The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) can be used in a concessive sense (see BDB 473 s.v. כִּי), which makes good sense in this context. Its normal causal sense (“for”) does not fit the context here very well.

¹⁰ tn Heb “the inclination of the heart of humankind.”

¹¹ tn Heb “from his youth.”

¹² tn Heb “with the integrity of your heart.”

¹³ tn Heb “and I, even I, kept you.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “therefore.”