Genesis 3:16 (EHV) To the woman he said: I will greatly increase your pain in childbearing. With painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, but he will rule over you.
The Hebrew word for “desire” is (H8669) תְּשׁוּקָה tešûqāh, which means a passionate, strong desire or longing for something. It is used 3 times in the OT. In Genesis 4:7, it is sin’s desire. In Song of Songs 7:10, it refers to physical, sexual desire to be with her lover/husband. So, what about Genesis 3:16? Does it mean every woman wants to dominate her husband? That’s evil, thinking evil, and an excuse to abuse one’s wife. When the Creator confronted Adam and Eve about their sin, Eve was honest, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” She gave no excuses and didn’t blame Adam. She told the truth. Adam, on the other hand, blamed Eve, then blamed God. If I had been blamed falsely, I wouldn’t want anything to do with the other person. Eve must have been furious. She wanted nothing to do with Adam. God corrects her gently but tells her, “I want you to stay with Adam, and still desire him emotionally and sexually.” Adam was the sinner that got the curse. The whole universe was cursed because of Adam’s sin, not Eve’s. Romans 5:12 (EHV) So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, so also death spread to all people because all sinned.