Good News Translation places a heading “God pronounces judgment” before verse 14. Translators may wish to do likewise. This heading may be adjusted to say, for example, “God judges the snake, the woman, and the man” or “God punishes the snake, the….”
Translators will notice that Revised Standard Version, unlike Good News Translation, has printed verses 14-19 in poetic format. The reason for this is that some of the adjoining lines in these verses have the same number of stresses in Hebrew. However, scholars are not agreed on how many stresses. There is in addition some paralleling of lines in which a similar meaning is given in successive lines; for example:
qc “cursed are you above all cattle//and above all wild animals”;
qc “between you and the woman//between your seed and her seed”;
qc “multiply your pain in childbearing//in pain you shall bring forth children.”
Some translations use poetic indentation (New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, New International Version, New English Bible). Others do not (Good News Translation, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Traduction oecuménique de la Bible). Translators are free to follow either style, but poetic indentation should only be used if readers are familiar with it.
God does not question the snake for its role in this episode, but he proceeds immediately to place a curse on it.
Because you have done this: this refers to deceiving the woman in 3.1-5, and in some languages it will be necessary to say “Because you deceived the woman” or “Because you lied to the woman.” This reason clause may have to be placed after the consequence; for example, “Cursed are you because you have done this.”
Cursed are you …: cursed occurs thirteen times in Genesis, translating three different Hebrew verbs. It is important, therefore, for the translator to grasp its significance. As used here, to curse means to cause injury or harm by means of a pronouncement or statement. Normally a curse spoken by a person requires an appeal to a higher power to enforce the curse. In this case, however, God speaks the curse.
Cursed are you translates Hebrew words that are a formula for the beginning of a curse, and which are parallel to a similar formula for the beginning of a blessing, “Blessed are you….” The curse is here contained within a structured framework: first the cause (Because you have done this), then the selection (you above all cattle, and above all wild animals), and then the harmful effects (upon your belly you shall go, dust you shall eat, enmity between you and the woman …, and he shall bruise your head). Finally the time of application of the curse is given; in this case it is to be permanent (all the days of your life).
Most languages have verb-like words meaning to curse in the sense of inflicting harm. And in many languages there are also curse formulas similar to the Hebrew “Cursed are you…” that are used to open the expression of a curse. However, in some languages cursing may also imply the use of magic. In the present case the curse is the result of God’s spoken decree, although Anchor Bible says that the Hebrew root means “to restrain [by magic], bind [by spell].” If the expression used in translation presupposes the use of medicines or magic materials, it may be better to follow those translations that say something like “This is my strong word to you: I will punish you…,” “[Curse formula] … You will feel pain now,” or “It will be terribly bad for you now:….”
Above all cattle: above in English carries the meaning that the other animals are also cursed, but that the snake is cursed even more, to a greater extent. This is the wrong meaning. The sense of the Hebrew, which is literally “out of,” refers to separation or selection, or as Good News Translation says correctly, “You alone of all the animals.” See also Revised English Bible “You are cursed alone of all….” In some languages it will be more natural to express this by saying that the snake is cursed but the other animals are not; for example, one translation has “I am going to punish only you; not the rest of the animals, only you.”
Cattle refers not only to cows but to all domestic animals, as in 1.24. Wild animals translates the same expression used in 2.19 and rendered “beast of the field” (Revised Standard Version). Good News Translation reduces these two to “all the animals.” Most modern versions keep the reference to two groups of animals.
Upon your belly you shall go is a consequence of the curse and refers to the manner in which the snake will have to move, that is, “crawl on your belly” (Good News Translation).
The second consequence, and dust you shall eat, does not necessarily mean that the snake will live on dust, or eat nothing but dust for its food, but rather that as a crawling animal its mouth will be near the ground, and its food will be dusty. Dust translates the same noun used in 2.7 and may be translated “dirt,” as in New American Bible (New American Bible), New Jerusalem Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy. All the days of your life is idiomatic and means “as long as you live” (Good News Translation), “until you die.”
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .