GENESIS—NOTE ON Genesis 3:17 Because he has eaten what was prohibited (v. Genesis 3:6), Adam will have to struggle to eat in the future. He will no longer enjoy the garden’s abundance but will have to work the ground from which he was taken (v. Genesis 3:23; see note on 2:8–9). The punishment is not the work itself (see note on 2:15–16) but rather the hardship and frustration that it will involve. To say that the ground is cursed and will produce thorns and thistles means that it will no longer be as productive as it was in Eden.

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