Loading…
VRSZ
This sets the art on your cards and whose commentary you read on each verse. You can change it later in settings.
Translation
Loading…
What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
Cosmas Indicopleustes
Man of old having sinned when the serpent in Paradise assailed him, it was said to him: He shall lie in wait for thy heel, but thou for his head; that is, Ye shall be divided and at enmity against each other, that man may not be under obedience to him. …
Irenaeus
He has therefore, in His work of recapitulation, summed up all things, both waging war against our enemy, and crushing him who had at the beginning led us away captives in Adam, and trampled upon his head, as thou canst perceive in Genesis that God said to the serpent, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; He shall be on the watch for thy head, and thou on the watch for His heel." For from that time, He who should be born of a woman, [namely] from the Virgin, after the likeness of Adam, …
Western Saints
Jerome
He himself will keep your head, and you will keep his heel. It is better in Hebrew: He will crush your head, and you will crush his heel; for our steps are hindered by the serpent, and the Lord will quickly crush Satan under our feet.
Bede
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. The seed of the woman is the entire human race, the seed of the devil are the betrayers, who are depraved with his example of pride and rebellion. His seed is a perverse suggestion; the seed of the woman is the fruit of good work, by which the perverse suggestion is resisted. …
Bonaventure
The blessed Virgin possesses that price, because she is strong and valiant as one valiantly fighting. In Genesis: "The Lord said to the serpent: I will put enmities between you and the woman, and your seed and her seed; she shall crush your head, and you shall lie in wait for her heel." Bernard says of the glorious Virgin: "She crushed the head of the ancient serpent, when she reduced to nothing every suggestion of the evil one, both regarding the allurement of the flesh and the pride of the mind." Do not allow the serpent to enter …
Translation