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Genesis 3:17 New King James Version

17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’:

“Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life.

Genesis 8:21 New King James Version

21 And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. Then the Lord said in His heart, “I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done.

Was the flooding apart of the same curse God told to Adam or was this a separate curse?

Jason_
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3 Answers3

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Many would agree with the OP's connection such as Benson:

Gen 8:21 - ... I will not again curse the ground — Hebrew: I will not add to curse the ground any more. God had cursed the ground upon the first entrance of sin, Genesis 3:17; when he drowned it he added to that curse: but now he determines not to add to it any more.

The Pulpit commentary is slightly more nuanced:

I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake. Literally, I will not add to curse. Not a revocation of the curse of Genesis 3:17, nor a pledge that such curse would not be duplicated. The language refers solely to the visitation of the Deluge, and promises not that God may not some. times visit particular localities with a flood, but that another such world-wide catastrophe should never overtake the human race.

Thus, while the flood of Noah was to some degree a result of sin generally, it was primarily the sin of the antediluvians, not just Adam and Eve's original sin. The reason for the flood is explicitly recorded in Gen 6:

5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time. 6 And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 So the LORD said, “I will blot out man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—every man and beast and crawling creature and bird of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.”

Dottard
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No, and in fact we are given the explicit reason for the flood in Genesis 6:1-8 (NET):

When humankind began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of humankind were beautiful. Thus they took wives for themselves from any they chose. So the Lord said, “My Spirit will not remain in humankind indefinitely, since they are mortal. They will remain for 120 more years.”

The Nephilim were on the earth in those days (and also after this) when the sons of God would sleep with the daughters of humankind, who gave birth to their children. They were the mighty heroes of old, the famous men.

But the Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind had become great on the earth. Every inclination of the thoughts of their minds was only evil all the time. The Lord regretted that he had made humankind on the earth, and he was highly offended. So the Lord said, “I will wipe humankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—everything from humankind to animals, including creatures that move on the ground and birds of the air, for I regret that I have made them.”

But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord.

Perhaps what exactly that means has been lost to time. There have been several discussions on the meaning of this passage in the past. I am of the opinion that it was a result of idol worship caused by mixing with other pagan cultures. Regardless - it is fairly clear that this prologue to the flood narrative was meant to be an explanation for why the destruction of the flood was visited on the Hebrew people, and that does not seem to have to do with the curse of the ground. This is the result of new sins committed by mankind. As a narrative, the flood shows that mankind is unchanged in his ways and continues to sin in the overarching theme of Genesis - and this sinning continues into the Tower of Babel narrative. These three stories set up the need for the Abrahamic Covenant and in the New Testament narrative, the redemptive arc for Jesus.

James Shewey
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The Flood resulted from the multiplication of sins (see @James Shewey's answer) not from God's curse in Gen. 4. What Genesis 8:21 indicates is profound relief on God's part that Noah's family had successfully passed through the flood judgment and established the conditions upon which God would renew his covenant with humankind. Thus God promises never again to curse the ground. A few lines later, God restores to Noah's family the blessing originally given to Adam and Eve:

Genesis 9

And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth."

Although tragedy would soon follow again, this part of the story ends with the sign of the rainbow.

Dan Fefferman
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