Your desire WILL BE for your husband

[tonychanyt]

After the fall, God pronounced judgment on the serpent. Then, NIV Genesis 3:

16 To the woman he said, 'I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.'

In Hebrew, the verb "will be" is absent:

Your desire for your husband, and he will rule over you.

How was this a curse?

Explanation #1

Before the fall, God ruled over Adam and Eve directly. After the fall, God ruled over Adam, and Adam (the husband) ruled over Eve (the wife). Nevertheless, the wife will desire the husband.

Explanation #2

God mentioned "desire" in a negative context of pronouncing judgment on Eve.

ESV supplies the missing verb this way:

Your desire shall be contrary to husband, but he shall rule over you.”

The same Hebrew word for desire appears one chapter later after Cain killed Abel 4:

7 if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.

Cain needed to overcome the desire of his sinful tendency. Per ESV, Eve needed to overcome her bad desire contrary to her husband.

After the fall, there would be conflict and power struggles within the marriage relationship. It points to the need for redemption and restoration through Christ, who reconciles all things to God's original design.