3:17) His punishment is that the earth will be cursed because of him, and "with difficulty you will eat from it all the days of your life" (Gen 3,17). Man is condemned to work the land to obtain food. It will be hard work for him and he will have to do it all his life. Their greatest punishment is that "you will return to dust" (Gen 3:19). The literal meaning of this is that man will eventually become dust again. The spiritual meaning is that man can now die, which was not part of God's original plan for man, but was a consequence of Adam and Eve's plan.