The Voice of Love

After she had done wrong a voice rose and said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,

Cursed are you above all livestock

and all wild animals!

You will crawl on your belly

and you will eat dust

all the days of your life.

And I will put enmity

Between you and this woman,

And between your offspring and hers;

He will crush your head,

And you will strike his heel.”

After she had done wrong a voice rose and said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,

Cursed are you above all livestock

and all wild animals!

You will crawl on your belly

and you will eat dust

all the days of your life.

And I will put enmity

Between you and this woman,

And between your offspring and hers;

He will crush your head,

And you will strike his heel.”

And to the woman the voice said,

“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;

With painful labour will you give birth to children,

Your desire will be only for your husband,

And he will rule over you.”

And to the man the voice said,

“Because you listened to this woman and ate fruit from that tree,

about which I commanded you to not eat it,

this serpent having got between this woman and me,

Cursed is the ground because of your folly;

through painful toil you will eat food from it

all the days of your life

It will produce thorns and thistles for you,

and you will eat the plants of the field.

By the sweat of your brow

 you will eat your food

until you return to the ground,

since from it you were taken;

for dust you are

and to dust you will return,

And the serpent will curse you.”