Genesis 3:19 - Exposition

In the sweat of thy face (so called, as having there its source and being there visible) shalt thou eat bread . I .e. all food. " To eat bread" is to possess the means of sustaining life ( Ecclesiastes 5:16 ; Amos 7:12 ). Till thou return unto the ground (the mortality-of man is thus assumed as certain); for out of it thou wast taken. Not declaring the reason of man's dissolution, as if it were involved in his original material constitution, but reminding him that in consequence of his transgression he had forfeited the privilege of immunity from death, and must now return to the soil whence he sprung. ε ̓ ξ η }j e)lh&fqhj; ( LXX .); de qua sumptus es (Vulgate); "out of which thou wast taken" (Macdonald, Gesenius). On the use of כִּי as a relative pronoun— אַשֶׁר cf. Gesenius, ' Lex. sub nom.,' who quotes this and Genesis 4:25 as examples. Vide also Stanley Leathes, 'Hebrews Gram.,' p. 202; and 'Glassii Philologiae,' lib. 3. tr. 2, c. 15. p. 335. This use of כִּי , however, appears to be doubtful, and is not necessary in any of the examples quoted.