“Such are those who nowadays expound almost the whole Bible, wherever they find a word in the feminine gender, concerning the Blessed Virgin.22 (22 For a sample of such exegesis and of Luther’s attacks upon it see Luther’s Works, 1, pp. 191—198.)”
The American Edition editor provided a helpful reference to Luther's Genesis commentary as the source of this "damnable" error of a mistranslation of Genesis 3:15, to say “And she will crush.”, instead of "it shall bruise thy head" or "the same (the seed of the woman) shall bruise thy head.” Below are excerpts from Luther's commentary on Genesis 3:15:
“How amazing, how damnable, that through the agency of foolish exegetes Satan has managed to apply this passage, which in fullest measure abounds in the comfort of the Son of God, to the Virgin Mary! For in all the Latin Bibles the pronoun appears in the feminine gender: “And she will crush.”
“we want to remove the idolatry contained in the statement that by giving birth to Christ, Mary has destroyed all the power of Satan.”
God “clearly declares that the male Seed of the woman would prostrate this enemy.”
“…but from that very flesh I shall bring forth a Man who will crush and prostrate you and all your powers.”
“When Eve had given birth to her first-born son, she hoped that she already had that Crusher.40 (40 This reflects the interpretation of Gen. 4:1 which Luther had adopted in his translation of the Old Testament…)”
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Luther identifies "all the Latin Bibles", Nicholas of Lyra, and the "negligence on the part of the rulers in the church" as culprits in this error that persists among Roman Catholics, and Romanizers, everywhere today.
