Genesis 3:12

The man said, “The woman whom you gave me, she gave ¹  me some fruit ²  from the tree and I ate it.”

Ge 2:18,20,22; Ex 32:21-24; 1Sa 15:20-24; Job 31:33; Pr 19:3; Pr 28:13; Lu 10:29; Ro 10:3; Jas 1:13-15

¹ tn The Hebrew construction in this sentence uses an independent nominative absolute (formerly known as a casus pendens). “The woman” is the independent nominative absolute; it is picked up by the formal subject, the pronoun “she” written with the verb (“she gave”). The point of the construction is to throw the emphasis on “the woman.” But what makes this so striking is that a relative clause has been inserted to explain what is meant by the reference to the woman: “whom you gave me.” Ultimately, the man is blaming God for giving him the woman who (from the man’s viewpoint) caused him to sin.

² tn The words “some fruit” here and the pronoun “it” at the end of the sentence are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for stylistic reasons.