Textual CriticismAnswered

In Genesis 3:15, is the better translation 'she' or 'he' who shall crush the head of the serpent?

A viewer asks whether the case is stronger for translating Genesis 3:15 as 'she' or as 'he' who shall crush the head of the serpent.

Answer

I honestly dislike this question, because there is no definitive answer. The Hebrews wrote only consonants, and the Masoretes, Hebrews of the ninth century AD, added vowel pointing to help later readers. In Genesis 3:15 the same consonant can carry two different vowel pointings, one giving 'he' and the other giving 'she,' one masculine and one feminine. The problem is that the vowel pointings were not inspired; only the consonants were. So the very thing that would settle whether it is 'he shall crush' or 'she shall crush' is uninspired, and without an infallible way to decide, it remains an open question. Catholics would love it to be 'she,' and I have no problem with that; the context can go either way, because it speaks of 'her seed,' which could support 'she shall crush,' while others emphasize the seed itself, which is Christ, supporting 'he shall crush.' Jerome's Vulgate reads 'she shall crush,' but he was Catholic, and we cannot let a Marian bias decide the exegesis; it has to be objective. In my Genesis commentary, written about ten or twelve years ago, I concluded that on grammatical grounds 'he shall crush' is probably the better reading, and I have not yet seen an argument that compels 'she,' though I remain open if someone can show it. This is simply one of those textual anomalies we will likely never solve, and it happens to fall on a very important verse.

Dr. Robert Sungenis

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