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Genesis 3:18
ESV thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.
NIV It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
NASB Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; Yet you shall eat the plants of the field;
CSB It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
NLT It will grow thorns and thistles for you, though you will eat of its grains.
KJV Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
NKJV Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field.

What does Genesis 3:18 mean?

This verse continues God's curse on Adam for his sin. Adam disobeyed the command not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. And, he failed to guide and protect His wife according to God's original plan. This remark from God to Adam has to be read along with the previous two verses to be fully understood.

God has pronounced that Adam's lifelong work of getting food from the ground would now bring him great pain and frustration. The ground itself would be cursed. Part of that curse, revealed here, includes thorns and thistles coming up with the crops, making it more difficult to sustain and harvest them. Rather than the earth being a cooperative partner, it would now be an uncontrolled landscape.

However frustrating it becomes, though, Adam and all of his offspring would not be able to quit the work. They would need to eat the plants of the field in order to live, so the painful work must continue.
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