Problem: The Douah-Rheims Bible (the standard Roman Catholic English Bible until the middle of the twentieth century) reads: “I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and they seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel” (Gen. 3:15). Here, the descendant of Eve is a woman, who will crush the work of Satan (“She shall crush they head…”). Does this picture Mary—Jesus’ mother—as co-redemptrix?
Solution: This is a poor translation of the original Hebrew language. The Douay-Rheims translation takes this pronoun (“she”) from the Latin Vulgate. The original Hebrew uses a masculine pronoun here—not a feminine. Thus this passage doesn’t support this doctrine regarding Mary.
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
(Gen 3:15)”
