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Genesis 3:17

And to a red-one he has said 'For you have heard to the voice of the woman of yourself, and she is eating from out of the Wood straightly I have laid-charge to you, to say, She is not eating from out of himself, she-who-is-cursed is the Red-one within-across-yourself.140 In an inner-pained-one they are eating141 the whole of the days of the living-ones of yourself,

Footnote:

141

Paragogic nun. Strong’s #6093, עִצָּבוֹן itstsabon. Afflicted one, sorrowful one. 

Hebrew תאכלנה. they are eating (fem). The suffix "נה" (pronounced as "-na") in Biblical Hebrew is a feminine suffix. It can be either interpreted as "you are eating her" which is the odd traditional interpration i.e. "you are eating of it" or properly as third person feminine plural incomplete "they are eating", or second person feminine plural incomplete "you all are eating." Refer to the chart below.

For example:

  • רָאוּ (ra'u) means "they (masculine or mixed gender) see."
  • רָאוּנָה (ra'unah) means "they (feminine) see."

So, "נה" is added to verbs to match the gender of the subject when the subject is a group of females or a feminine noun.

What tradition did here was to take the suffix for "her" as "you are eating her." It is not only strange to say "you are eating her" in terms of the Ground (hence why they add the words "of it") but it deviates completely from the pattern of "eating from" used throughout this narrative.  The preposition מן (min "from out of" ) follows nearly every other instance of the verb "to eat" in the narrative.

Here are all the instances:

  • Genesis 2:16, "you are eating from" verb + prep
  • Genesis 2:17, "you are not eating from" verb + prep
  • Genesis 3:1, "you all are not eating from" verb + prep
  • Genesis 3:2, "you all are not eating from" verb + prep
  • Genesis 3:3, "you all are not eating from" verb + prep
  • Genesis 3:5, "your eating from" infinitive possesive verb + prep
  • Genesis 3:6  "and she ate." verb no prep
  • Genesis 3:11 "he ate from" verb + prep
  • Genesis 3:14 "you are eating dust" verb + noun
  • Genesis 3:17 "you are eating from" verb + noun

Hebrew תאכל she is eating 

In Hebrew, the future tense conjugations for the second person masculine singular and the third person feminine singular forms of verbs often appear identical, both written and pronounced. Therefore, "תֹּאכַל" (ta'akhal) could represent either "you (masculine singular) eats" or "she eats" depending on the context.