עִצָּבוֹן

From the study of Genesis 3:16

Range of meaning

Painful toil, laborious hardship, distress. It comes from the root ʿ-ts-b, 'to hurt, grieve, labor hard'. The verb is used of God being 'grieved to his heart' (Gen 6:6) and of Joseph's brothers being distressed (45:5).

Against the English

Most modern versions render the word plus the next one as 'pain in childbirth/childbearing'. KJV and YLT keep 'sorrow', which now sounds like sadness. No major English version translates it the same way in 3:16 and 3:17 ('pain' for her, 'toil' for him), so English readers miss that God uses one word for both.

How it drifted

Translators often merge 'your toil and your pregnancy' into one idea, 'pain in pregnancy'. That narrows a broad word down to labor pangs. 'Sorrow' (KJV) once covered physical pain and trouble, but today it suggests grief.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Hebrew Bible it occurs only three times: Gen 3:16 (the woman), 3:17 (the man eating from the ground 'in toil'), and 5:29 (Noah's father hopes for relief 'from our work and from the toil of our hands, from the ground the LORD cursed'). The Greek Septuagint uses lypē ('grief, distress') in both 3:16 and 3:17, so it also links the two. The usual Hebrew vocabulary for labor pangs (ḥîl, ḥevel, tsîr, e.g. Isa 13:8; 26:17) is not used here. The word may also echo ʿēts, 'tree', the tree that started it all.

From the study of Genesis 3:17

Range of meaning

Painful toil, pain, hardship, with an element of distress. It comes from the root 'atsav, 'to hurt, grieve, be pained', and occurs only three times: Genesis 3:16, 3:17 and 5:29.

Against the English

KJV 'sorrow' (in both 3:16 and 3:17) keeps the link between the two sentences but sounds to modern ears like emotional sadness. BSB 'toil' and NASB 'hard labor' catch the work but lose the pain and the link to 3:16. ESV 'pain' keeps both the pain and the link. NIV 'painful toil' combines them well.

How it drifted

In 1611 English 'sorrow' covered physical pain and trouble as well as grief (e.g. 'the sorrows of a woman in travail'). Today it is almost purely emotional.

Used elsewhere in the period

Genesis 3:16 (the woman's pain in bearing children); 5:29 (Lamech: 'the 'itsavon of our hands from the ground the LORD cursed'). Related words: 'etsev, 'pain, toil' (3:16b; Prov 14:23, 'in all toil there is profit'); the verb in Genesis 6:6, where God 'was grieved' in his heart. The Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation) uses lypē, 'pain, grief', in both 3:16 and 3:17.

From the study of Genesis 5:29

Range of meaning

Painful labour, toil that hurts, hardship. It comes from the root '-ts-b, 'to hurt, grieve, cause pain'. The word joins effort and suffering in one idea.

Against the English

KJV and WEB have 'toil' and BSB has 'labor and toil', which lose the element of pain. NIV, ESV and NLT keep it with 'painful toil' or 'painful labor'.

How it drifted

Modern 'toil' suggests hard but neutral work. The Hebrew word carries hurt and grief.

Used elsewhere in the period

It occurs only three times in the Hebrew Bible: Genesis 3:16 (the woman's 'pain' in childbearing), 3:17 (the man's 'painful toil' to eat from the ground) and here. The root comes back in Genesis 6:6: Yahweh 'was grieved' (vayyit'atsev) to his heart. The pain humans feel in their labour is matched by the pain God feels over humanity.