Genesis 3:16:
(NIV)
To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
(KJV)
Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
(RSV)
To the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”
After reading through Genesis 2-3 in these three versions, I have found that this verse contains the biggest difference between the three translations. While the RSV and NIV say that childbearing and giving birth will be painful, the KJV has that giving birth and conception will be painful. Also, while the NIV and KJV say that the woman will desire her husband as an independent phrase, the RSV says that the woman will give birth with pain yet she will desire her husband. What this means exactly and why this was done, I do not know.
Is this really the most significant variant you noticed?
ReplyDeleteAm I being too nit-picky?
DeleteI did also notice that the structure of the verses is different. The RSV separates them into paragraphs and denotes when a section starts and ends. Whereas the KJV just lists the verse one after the other, divided only by chapters.
ReplyDelete