Discovery BoxGenesis 3:19 
Context3:19 By the sweat of your brow 1 you will eat food
until you return to the ground, 2
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust, and to dust you will return.” 3
Genesis 3:22-24
Context3:22 And the Lord God said, “Now 4 that the man has become like one of us, 5 knowing 6 good and evil, he must not be allowed 7 to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 3:23 So the Lord God expelled him 8 from the orchard in Eden to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken. 3:24 When he drove 9 the man out, he placed on the eastern side 10 of the orchard in Eden angelic sentries 11 who used the flame of a whirling sword 12 to guard the way to the tree of life.
1 tn The expression “the sweat of your brow” is a metonymy, the sweat being the result of painful toil in the fields.
2 sn Until you return to the ground. The theme of humankind’s mortality is critical here in view of the temptation to be like God. Man will labor painfully to provide food, obviously not enjoying the bounty that creation promised. In place of the abundance of the orchard’s fruit trees, thorns and thistles will grow. Man will have to work the soil so that it will produce the grain to make bread. This will continue until he returns to the soil from which he was taken (recalling the creation in 2:7 with the wordplay on Adam and ground). In spite of the dreams of immortality and divinity, man is but dust (2:7), and will return to dust. So much for his pride.
3 sn In general, the themes of the curse oracles are important in the NT teaching that Jesus became the cursed one hanging on the tree. In his suffering and death, all the motifs are drawn together: the tree, the sweat, the thorns, and the dust of death (see Ps 22:15). Jesus experienced it all, to have victory over it through the resurrection.
4 tn The particle הֵן (hen) introduces a foundational clause, usually beginning with “since, because, now.”
5 sn The man has become like one of us. See the notes on Gen 1:26 and 3:5.
6 tn The infinitive explains in what way the man had become like God: “knowing good and evil.”
7 tn Heb “and now, lest he stretch forth.” Following the foundational clause, this clause forms the main point. It is introduced with the particle פֶּן (pen) which normally introduces a negative purpose, “lest….” The construction is elliptical; something must be done lest the man stretch forth his hand. The translation interprets the point intended.
8 tn The verb is the Piel preterite of שָׁלַח (shalakh), forming a wordplay with the use of the same verb (in the Qal stem) in v. 22: To prevent the man’s “sending out” his hand, the
9 tn The verb with the vav (ו) consecutive is made subordinate to the next verb forming a temporal clause. This avoids any tautology with the previous verse that already stated that the
10 tn Or “placed in front.” Directions in ancient Israel were given in relation to the east rather than the north.
11 tn The Hebrew word is traditionally transliterated “the cherubim.”
sn Angelic sentries (Heb “cherubim”). The cherubim in the Bible seem to be a class of angels that are composite in appearance. Their main task seems to be guarding. Here they guard the way to the tree of life. The curtain in the tabernacle was to be embroidered with cherubim as well, symbolically guarding the way to God. (See in addition A. S. Kapelrud, “The Gates of Hell and the Guardian Angels of Paradise,” JAOS 70 [1950]: 151-56; and D. N. Freedman and M. P. O’Connor, TDOT 7:307-19.)
12 tn Heb “the flame of the sword that turns round and round.” The noun “flame” is qualified by the genitive of specification, “the sword,” which in turn is modified by the attributive participle “whirling.” The Hitpael of the verb “turn” has an iterative function here, indicating repeated action. The form is used in Job 37:12 of swirling clouds and in Judg 7:13 of a tumbling roll of bread. Verse 24 depicts the sword as moving from side to side to prevent anyone from passing or as whirling around, ready to cut to shreds anyone who tries to pass.
