Genesis 3:15

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall strike you head, and you shall strike him heel. (Genesis 3:15)

Genesis 3:15 is a very interesting passage for several reasons, particularly in how translations handle a key pronoun. Consider the following renderings:

And 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. (KJV)

And 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. (JPS)

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (ASV)

Notice that each version translates the same pronoun differently: “it,” “they,” and “he.” In the Hebrew text, the word is hu (הוא), a masculine singular pronoun meaning “he.” Aside from this difference, the translations are largely similar.

Now consider the Hebrew phrase behind the final portion of the verse:

hu yeshuph’kha rosh v’atah teshuphenu eqev

Let us examine each word carefully.

The first word is hu (הוא), meaning “he.”

The second word is yeshuph’kha (ישופך). The prefixed yud (י) identifies the subject as masculine singular and marks the verb as imperfect (future sense). The root is shuph (שוף), meaning “to strike” or “to fall upon in an attack.” The suffix kaph (ך) identifies the object as “you” (second person masculine singular). The word therefore means, “he will strike you.”

The third word is rosh (ראש), usually translated as “head.”

These three words together read literally, “he will strike you head.” Because this construction is awkward in English, translators render it as “he will strike your head.” However, if that were the intended meaning, the Hebrew would more naturally read:

hu yeshuph rosh’kha

The next word is v’atah (ואתה), meaning “and you.”

The following word is teshuphenu (תשופנו). The prefixed tav (ת) identifies the subject as second person masculine singular (“you”) and marks the verb as imperfect. The root is again shuph (שוף), “to strike.” The suffix nu (נו) identifies the object as “him.” The word therefore means, “you will strike him.”

The final word is eqev (עקב), usually translated as “heel.”

These words together read literally, “and you will strike him heel.” Again, translators smooth this into “you will strike his heel,” but if that were intended, the Hebrew would more naturally read:

v’atah teshuph eqevo

Putting the literal Hebrew together yields:

He will strike you head, and you will strike him heel.

The key insight comes from the broader meaning of these Hebrew words. The word rosh (head) can also mean “first,” as seen in passages such as 1 Chronicles 16:7. Likewise, eqev (heel) can mean “last,” as in Genesis 49:19.

With this understanding, the phrase can be interpreted as:

He will strike you first, and you will strike him last.