Genesis 3:14-19

The Sentence

14. cursed art thou The word "cursed" is only used in addressing the serpent, as the originator of the temptation, and in reference to "the ground" as the sphere of man's penalty (Genesis 3:17). Jehovah does not pronounce a curse either upon the man or upon the woman.

above Better, as R.V. marg., from among. Taken from among the other animals, the domestic cattle and the wild beasts, the serpent alone receives the curse. So LXX ἀπό, Vulg. "inter." An objection to the rendering "above" is, that it would imply a curse of some sort upon all animals, and a special one upon the serpent.

upon thy belly, &c. It appears from this sentence that the story considered the serpent to have been originally different in appearance and mode of progression. Its crawling movement on the ground and the apparent necessity for its swallowing dust are regarded as the results of the curse pronounced in the garden.

Prostrate, no longer erect, and feeding on the dust which man shakes off from his foot, the serpent-race typified the insidious character of the power of evil, to which the upright walk of man was the typical contrast.

all the days of thy life Not the individual serpent, but the whole serpent-race. These words, together with the details of the curse, conclusively shew that Jehovah is addressing an animal, and not the spirit of evil.