the curse of 3:17–19 has to do entirely with his relationship to it. Divergent possibilities exist only as to the conditions of his agricultural existence. “Inside,” he receives the earth’s bounty with little expenditure of work; “outside,” he is slave to the earth, living on what little it grudgingly gives back to him. But even at this most basic level of existence, “inside” is unstable, and it is a tree which precipitates the man “outside.” 2.32 One may briefly notice the opposition wet vs dry.