One more note of interest as I was looking something up. Please look at how the Catholics interpret Gen 3:15Where did you find that translation? Here is the modern, approved Catholic translation:
Book of Genesis (3:15): "I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel."And here is the actual translation from the Hebrew:Genesis 3:15 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.
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel."And in a footnote:
3 [15] He will strike . . . at his heel: since the antecedent for he and his is the collective noun offspring, i.e., all the descendants of the woman, a more exact rendering of the sacred writer's words would be, "They will strike . . . at their heels." However, later theology saw in this passage more than unending hostility between snakes and men. The serpent was regarded as the devil (Wisdom 2:24; John 8:44; Rev 12:9; 20:2), whose eventual defeat seems implied in the contrast between head and heel. Because "the Son of God appeared that he might destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8), the passage can be understood as the first promise of a Redeemer for fallen mankind. The woman's offspring then is primarily Jesus Christ.
Actually I found it on the Catholic website "www.newadvent.org". I also checked my Douay-Rheims 1899 version. My quote was accurate per newadvent and my old text. I just can't keep up with all the Catholics new fangle translations. :O)
I will add your footnote is interesting:
The phrase "his heel" is used one other place in scripture and it also is used in the masculine sense (his-not "their"):