Draft of Genesis 3:8-15

“Women and children will hate you, you flat-headed heel biter”

I’ve finished a draft translation of chapter 3, and I will post verses from it over the coming days. And then I will revise the work and post that. Apologies for the long delay in posting more of the translation!

A few notes on verses 14-15. In these, God addresses the Ophidian directly to curse and punish him. He is forced to crawl rather than walk. Rashi, citing Genesis Rabbah, confirms my intuition that before his punishment the Ophidian was not a snake/serpent: “It had feet but they were cut off.” The midrash Rashi cites goes further than he does: “[The snake was created] ‘ruler over beast and animal’ [and] ‘erect like Adam.’” This changes the story of Chava’s temptation and fall; she wasn’t accosted by a slithering snake but by an upright creature who was similar to Man.

They heard LORD God
    walking in the garden
        in the breath of the day
Adam and his wife hid
    from Him amidst the trees
 
LORD God called,
    “Adam?”
 
Adam replied,
    “I heard you in the garden
        Bare and afraid, I hid”
 
LORD God said,
    “Who says you are bare?
    Have you eaten
    of the tree I warned you from?”
 
Adam replied,
    “What my wife gave to me
        the wife whom you gave to me
    from that tree
        I ate”
 
LORD God said to the woman,
   “You've done this?”
 
She replied,
    “The Ophidian fooled me
        I ate”
 
LORD God said to the Ophidian,
    “Because of this,
        you are more cursed
            than any beast
            than any creature
                of the plain
    You will crawl
        eating dust
    all your days”
And more,
    “Women and children will hate you
        you flat-headed heel biter”