תְּשׁוּקָה

From the study of Genesis 3:16

Range of meaning

Desire, longing, an urge or pull toward someone or something. Its origin is uncertain. It is often compared with Arabic šāqa, 'to long for'. Ancient translators connected it with 'turning'.

Against the English

'Desire... for/to your husband' (KJV, BSB, WEB, NIV, NASB). The ESV (2016) has 'desire shall be contrary to', and the NLT has 'desire to control'. Those two build one scholarly interpretation into the text itself.

How it drifted

The ESV and NLT renderings follow a 1975 proposal (Susan Foh) that, because of the parallel in Gen 4:7, the word means a desire to master. This is a live interpretation, not settled meaning. Others hear 'desire' purely as romantic or sexual attraction, which goes beyond what the word itself guarantees.

Used elsewhere in the period

In the Hebrew Bible: Gen 3:16; Gen 4:7 ('sin is crouching at the door; its desire is toward you, but you must rule over it', with almost identical wording); Song 7:11 [7:10 Eng] ('I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me', clearly a loving desire). The Septuagint uses apostrophē, 'turning', in Gen 3:16 and 4:7, and epistrophē in Song 7:11. The Vulgate paraphrases 'you will be under the power of your husband.' The Dead Sea Scrolls use it of a basic orientation or inclination (e.g. the War Scroll's spirits whose 'desire is toward darkness'). Genesis Rabbah 20:7 lists several 'desires' in Scripture, including a woman's for her husband, and early Jewish readers mostly took it as sexual or emotional longing.

From the study of Genesis 4:7

Range of meaning

It occurs only three times: Gen 3:16 (the woman toward her husband), Gen 4:7 (sin toward Cain) and Song 7:10 [Heb 7:11] (the lover toward the beloved). The core is a longing, urge or pull directed toward someone. Its root is uncertain (perhaps related to a word for 'run/overflow'). Ancient versions often rendered it 'turning' (LXX apostrophē, 'turning, recourse').

Against the English

KJV/WEB/NASB: 'desire... for/unto you.' BSB: 'it desires you.' NIV: 'desires to have you.' NLT: 'eager to control you.' ESV (current text): 'contrary to you.' The last three build an interpretation into the word.

How it drifted

In modern English 'desire' leans romantic or sexual, and some recent translations narrow it to 'desire to control'. That narrower reading was popularised in the 1970s (Susan Foh, 1975). It reads the hostile sense of 4:7 back into 3:16, but Song 7:10 shows the word itself is not inherently hostile.

Used elsewhere in the period

LXX apostrophē ('turning'); Vulgate appetitus ('appetite, craving'); Song 7:10, where it is plainly loving. Joel Lohr (JBL 2011) argued that the ancient versions support 'turning toward'.

From the study of Song of Songs 7:10

Range of meaning

A longing or urge, a strong pull of one person toward another, or of a force toward something. The root is uncertain. One proposal links it to a verb šwq meaning 'to run, overflow' (used of vats overflowing in Joel 2:24 and 3:13), which suggests desire that 'runs toward' its object. Another links it to Arabic šawq, 'longing, yearning'. Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give 'longing, desire'.

Against the English

Most English versions say 'desire', which is accurate. The NLT has the man 'claim' her, which changes his longing into an act of possession and loses the feeling of yearning.

Used elsewhere in the period

There are only three uses in the Hebrew Bible. Genesis 3:16: 'your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.' Genesis 4:7: sin is crouching at the door; 'its desire is for you, but you must master it.' Song 7:10. The Greek translation (the Septuagint, or LXX) renders all three with epistrophē, 'turning (toward)'. Some scholars think its translators read a similar-looking word, tĕšûbâ, 'return'. The Latin Vulgate has conversio ('turning') here. The word also appears a few times in the Dead Sea Scrolls for the inner bent or leaning of a person or group. I give these references cautiously.