Prophecy 1 of 30 · Promise
The seed of the woman
Right after the fall, God promises that a descendant of the woman will crush the serpent, and be wounded doing it.
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Hebrew · Leningrad Codexעִבְרִית
15וְאֵיבָ֣ה ׀ אָשִׁ֗ית בֵּֽינְךָ֙ וּבֵ֣ין הָֽאִשָּׁ֔ה וּבֵ֥ין זַרְעֲךָ֖ וּבֵ֣ין זַרְעָ֑הּ ה֚וּא יְשׁוּפְךָ֣ רֹ֔אשׁ וְאַתָּ֖ה תְּשׁוּפֶ֥נּוּ עָקֵֽב׃ve'eva ashit benkha uven ha'isha uven zar'akha uven zar'ah hu yeshufkha rosh ve'atta teshufennu akev
JPS 1917 · Jewish translation
15And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; they shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise their heel.’
World Messianic Bible
15I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”
Genesis 3:15. Transliteration simplified. Read the whole chapter
Fulfilment · New CovenantWMB
Galatians 4:4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law,
Hebrews 2:14 Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
1 John 3:8 He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed: that he might destroy the works of the devil.
How rabbinic tradition reads it
Jewish commentators mostly read this as the ongoing struggle between people and evil (Rashi: humans and snakes; the Talmud: the evil inclination). The Targums of Pseudo-Jonathan and Neofiti add that the remedy will come "in the days of King Messiah".
Why Messianic Jews read it as Yeshua
The promise is about one "seed" ("he will bruise your head") who wins through being wounded. Paul says God sent his Son "born of a woman" (Galatians 4:4), and Hebrews says he destroyed the one who had the power of death by dying.
Look at the text for yourself
Read Genesis 3:15 slowly, in the Hebrew and the JPS translation above. Then ask the question the Ethiopian official asked: "Who is the prophet talking about?"
Sources
- Targum Pseudo-Jonathan and Targum Neofiti on Genesis 3:15
- Rashi on Genesis 3:15
- Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (public domain), via OpenScriptures. English: JPS 1917; World Messianic Bible (public domain).