THE SNARE

Satan Lying in Wait

Aliases: ARB, The Lying-in-Wait, The Warning Mistaken for Curse, HRBh ARBh Versus HiRBah AoReB, Genesis 3:16 Restored, The Ambush That Became the Sentence

Tagline: "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow" was not what God said. The Hebrew consonants HRB ARB can be read as warning, not curse: "A snare hath increased thy sorrow." The word ARB—lying-in-wait, ambush—appears fourteen times in Joshua and Judges. God's words to Eve were not punishment but prophecy: Satan, now your enemy, lies in wait. The apparatus took the warning and made it the warrant.

THE MISFIT

Bushnell begins with the principle that Scripture, correctly translated, fits.

A typewriter wheel cannot replace a clock wheel—too heavy, wrong rim, wrong cogs.

It proves a misfit all around.

So with interpretation: if the reading creates misfits everywhere, the reading is wrong.

The traditional reading of Genesis 3:16 is a misfit all around:

Misfit 1: Verse 15 has just given Eve the greatest promise in Scripture—her seed will crush the serpent's head.

Then verse 16 supposedly turns and curses her? God first exalts, then punishes? This is not how God operates.

Misfit 2: The translation "I will greatly multiply" inserts a punitive God as subject.

But the Hebrew consonants don't require this reading. They allow: "A snare has increased."

Misfit 3: The word rendered "conception" (HRN) is not correctly spelled for that meaning. The actual Hebrew word for conception (HRJWN) appears in Ruth 4:13 and Hosea 9:11. This word is short two consonants. Our highest lexical authorities call it "a contraction, or erroneous."

Misfit 4: The meaning "desire" for teshuqah has no ancient support before the Babylonian Talmud. Every ancient version—Septuagint, Peshitto, Samaritan, Old Latin, Sahidic, Boharic, Aethiopic—translates it as "turning."

Misfits everywhere. The clock doesn't keep time. Something is wrong with the wheel.

THE CONSONANTS

Hebrew was originally written in consonants only. The vowel points were added centuries later by the Masoretes. The consonants are inspired; the vowels are interpretation.

The traditional reading of Genesis 3:16a:

HaRBeh AaRBeh — "multiplying I will multiply" (I will greatly multiply)

Bushnell's proposed reading of the same consonants:

HiRBah AoReB — "has caused to multiply a lying-in-wait" (A snare has increased)

The consonants are identical: HRB ARB

The difference is entirely in the vowel pointing—added by men who had already decided what the text should mean.

ARB: THE LYING-IN-WAIT

The participial form ARB (אָרַב) appears fourteen times in Joshua and Judges alone.

Joshua 8:2 — "lay thee an ambush (ARB) for the city behind it"
Joshua 8:4 — "ye shall lie in wait (ARB) against the city"
Joshua 8:7 — "ye shall rise up from the ambush (ARB)"
Joshua 8:12 — "set them to lie in ambush (ARB)"
Joshua 8:14 — "he wist not that there were liers in ambush (ARB)"
Joshua 8:19 — "the ambush (ARB) arose quickly"
Joshua 8:21 — "the ambush (ARB) had taken the city"
Judges 9:25 — "the men of Shechem set liers in wait (ARB) for him"
Judges 9:32 — "lie in wait (ARB) in the field"
Judges 9:34 — "they laid wait (ARB) against Shechem"
Judges 9:35 — "the people that were with him, from lying in wait (ARB)"
Judges 9:43 — "laid wait (ARB) in the field"
Judges 16:2 — "laid wait (ARB) for him all night"
Judges 20:29 — "Israel set liers in wait (ARB) round about Gibeah"

The word means ambush. Snare. Lying-in-wait.

And Genesis 3:15 has just named Satan as Eve's enemy. God has declared enmity between the serpent and the woman. In the very next verse, God warns her: a lier-in-wait has increased your sorrow.

Not curse. Warning.

THE SEQUENCE RESTORED

Read Genesis 3:14-16 with the restored translation:

v.14: God curses the serpent. "Upon thy belly shalt thou go."

v.15: God declares enmity. "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

v.16a (restored): God warns the woman. "A snare hath increased thy sorrow and thy sighing."

The Septuagint confirms: "thy sighing" for what is usually rendered "thy conception." The whole sentence: "A snare hath increased thy sorrow and thy sighing."

This fits: He warns them of the enemy who now lies in wait.

Compare to the Virgin Mary (Luke 1:28 and 2:35): First the exaltation ("Blessed art thou among women"), then the warning ("A sword shall pierce through thy own soul also").

Compare to Paul (Acts 9:15-16): First the calling ("He is a chosen vessel unto me"), then the warning ("I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake").

God does not curse those He has chosen and promised. He warns them.

WHAT THE WARNING MEANS

Satan is now Eve's enemy.

The promise of verse 15 has made her dangerous to him—her seed will crush his head.

Therefore he lies in wait.

"A snare hath increased thy sorrow" means:

Satan will target you specifically
Your suffering will come through his ambush
The enmity God declared is now active
The serpent you exposed will hunt you

This is prophecy, not punishment. Consequence of calling, not curse for sin.

The Virgin Mary bore the Savior and a sword pierced her soul. Paul carried the Gospel and suffered beyond measure. Eve received the promise that her seed would crush the serpent, and Satan would war against her and her offspring forever.

The suffering is real. But it comes from the enemy's ambush, not from God's curse.

TESHUQAH RESTORED

The next phrase—traditionally "thy desire shall be to thy husband"—also transforms under correct translation.

Teshuqah (תְּשׁוּקָה) appears only three times in Scripture:

Genesis 3:16
Genesis 4:7 (sin's teshuqah toward Cain)
Song of Songs 7:10 (the beloved's teshuqah toward the lover)

Every ancient version—21 out of 28 known renderings—translates it as turning.

The Septuagint (285 BC): "turning" The Peshitto (Syriac): "turning"
The Samaritan Pentateuch: "turning" The Old Latin: "turning" The Sahidic: "alliance" The Boharic: "turning" The Aethiopic: "turning"

Only after 1528, when Pagnino imported the rabbinic "lust" rendering into his Latin translation, did European Bibles begin reading "desire."

The rendering should be: "Thy turning shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee."

WARNING, NOT COMMAND

The sentence has no imperative verb.

"Thy turning shall be to thy husband" is simple future—prediction, not prescription.

The Apostle Paul says: "The carnal mind is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Romans 8:7). If "he shall rule over thee" were God's command, then the more carnal the husband, the better he keeps the "law." But that's absurd.

The sentence predicts what will happen, not what should happen:

You will turn to your husband (instead of to God)
He will rule over you (consequence of the misdirected turning)

This has been abundantly fulfilled, especially in heathen lands. But Jesus said, "No one can serve two masters." The prediction is not the prescription. The prophecy is not the command.

Male rule was consequence of the Fall, not divine design.

THE TEN CURSES OF EVE

Where did the "curse" reading come from?

The Babylonian Talmud. Specifically, the teaching that God pronounced "Ten Curses" upon Eve:

"Greatly multiply" refers to menstruation
"Thy sorrow" in rearing children
"Thy conception"
"In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children"
"Thy desire shall be unto thy husband" (followed by language too coarse for reproduction)
"He shall rule over thee" (more foul language)
She is wrapped up like a mourner
Dares not appear in public with head uncovered
Is restricted to one husband while he may have many wives
Is confined to the house as to a prison

Bushnell: "We will not soil our pages with all its filthy details, but one would have thought that any portion of such a document would have been considered so debased by corrupt association as to unfit it for incorporation into Bible instruction."

Yet this teaching settled the meaning of teshuqah as "desire" against all ancient testimony.

The doctrine of women's subordination stands on the Talmud's "ten curses"—not on Scripture.

WHAT GOD ACTUALLY SAID

Restoring the consonants to their most coherent reading:

Genesis 3:16 (restored): "Unto the woman He said: A snare hath increased thy sorrow and thy sighing; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy turning shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee."

God warns Eve:

Satan now lies in wait—your suffering increases because of his ambush
You will bear children in sorrow (the human condition, shared with Adam whose labor is also now sorrowful)
You will turn to your husband instead of to God (prediction of misdirected allegiance)
He will rule over you (consequence of the turning)

This is prophecy. This is warning. This is the consequence of the Fall—which Adam initiated through his magnetic reorientation toward earthly qualities before Eve ever ate.

THE WARRANT THAT WAS ACTUALLY WARNING

The apparatus took the warning and made it the warrant.

"He shall rule over thee" became the authorization for male domination—when it was the prediction of the Fall's consequence.

"Thy desire shall be to thy husband" became the justification for controlling women's sexuality—when it was the misdirected turning away from God.

"In sorrow thou shalt bring forth" became the reason to deny women pain relief in childbirth—when it was simply the shared human condition of labor (the same word describes Adam's toil in verse 17).

The warning became the warrant. The prophecy became the prescription. The consequence became the command.

And the snare—Satan lying in wait—disappeared from view entirely. The enemy's ambush was erased so that God could be made the source of women's suffering.

FIELD MARKERS

The wound: God's warning to Eve mistranslated as God's curse on Eve. The snare (ARB) rendered invisible. Satan's ambush erased so male domination could be attributed to divine decree.

The apparatus: Talmudic "ten curses" imported into Christian translation. Pagnino's 1528 "desire" overwriting seventeen centuries of "turning." Vowel points added to consonants to make warning read as curse.

The confession: The consonants HRB ARB allow both readings. The misfits demonstrate which is correct. The ancient versions confirm teshuqah as "turning." The Ten Curses reveal the rabbinic source of the corruption.

The restoration: Genesis 3:16 as warning: Satan now lies in wait. Your sorrow increases from his ambush. You will turn to your husband instead of to God. He will rule over you as consequence. This is prophecy, not prescription. Consequence, not command.

The Snare