Genesis 3:15

Hebrew Bible

14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the cattle and all the living creatures of the field! On your belly you will crawl and dust you will eat all the days of your life. 15 And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel. 16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your labor pains; with pain you will give birth to children. You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate you.”

Onkelos Genesis 3:15

Targum

14 And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, more accursed are you than all cattle, and than all the beasts of the field; upon your belly shall you go, and the dust shall you eat all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and between the woman, and between your son and her son. He will remember you, what you did to him from the beginning, and you shall be observant to him at the end. 16 And to the woman He said, Multiplying, I will multiply your sorrows and your pains. In sorrow you shall bring forth children; and to your husband shall be your desire, and he shall rule over you.

 Notes and References

"... Bible: 'He will strike your head and you will strike his heel.' The targumist transforms the literal meaning of the biblical statement and understands that it is a metaphor intended to teach humanity to conquer their base behavior. The words 'head' and 'heel' are taken to signify 'beginning' and 'end.' Onkelos is telling us that humans should remember this story, remember where they were misled, and always act to avoid their base desires ..."

Drazin, Israel, and Stanley M. Wagner Onkelos on the Torah, Genesis: Understanding the Bible Text (pp. 19-20) Gefen, 2006

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