Genesis 3:11

3:11 And the Lord God ¹  said, “Who told you that you were naked? ²  Did you eat from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” ³ 

Genesis 4:9-10

4:9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” ⁴  And he replied, “I don’t know! Am I my brother’s guardian?” ⁵  4:10 But the Lord said, “What have you done? ⁶  The voice ⁷  of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!

Genesis 4:2

4:2 Then she gave birth ⁸  to his brother Abel. ⁹  Abel took care of the flocks, while Cain cultivated the ground. ¹⁰ 

Genesis 12:9

12:9 Abram continually journeyed by stages ¹¹  down to the Negev. ¹² 

Micah 3:1-4

God Will Judge Judah’s Sinful Leaders

3:1 I said,

“Listen, you leaders ¹³  of Jacob,

you rulers of the nation ¹⁴  of Israel!

You ought to know what is just, ¹⁵ 

3:2 yet you ¹⁶  hate what is good, ¹⁷ 

and love what is evil. ¹⁸ 

You flay my people’s skin ¹⁹ 

and rip the flesh from their bones. ²⁰ 

3:3 You ²¹  devour my people’s flesh,

strip off their skin,

and crush their bones.

You chop them up like flesh in a pot ²²  –

like meat in a kettle.

3:4 Someday these sinners will cry to the Lord for help, ²³ 

but he will not answer them.

He will hide his face from them at that time,

because they have done such wicked deeds.”

Habakkuk 2:9

2:9 The one who builds his house by unjust gain is as good as dead. ²⁴ 

He does this so he can build his nest way up high

and escape the clutches of disaster. ²⁵ 

Habakkuk 2:12

2:12 The one who builds a city by bloodshed is as good as dead ²⁶  –

he who starts ²⁷  a town by unjust deeds.

[3:11]  ¹ tn Heb “and he said.” The referent (the Lord God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:11]  ² sn Who told you that you were naked? This is another rhetorical question, asking more than what it appears to ask. The second question in the verse reveals the Lord God’s real concern.

[3:11]  ³ sn The Hebrew word order (“Did you from the tree – which I commanded you not to eat from it – eat?”) is arranged to emphasize that the man’s and the woman’s eating of the fruit was an act of disobedience. The relative clause inserted immediately after the reference to the tree brings out this point very well.

[4:9]  ⁴ sn Where is Abel your brother? Again the Lord confronts a guilty sinner with a rhetorical question (see Gen 3:9-13), asking for an explanation of what has happened.

[4:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “The one guarding my brother [am] I?”

[4:10]  ⁶ sn What have you done? Again the Lord’s question is rhetorical (see Gen 3:13), condemning Cain for his sin.

[4:10]  ⁷ tn The word “voice” is a personification; the evidence of Abel’s shed blood condemns Cain, just as a human eyewitness would testify in court. For helpful insights, see G. von Rad, Biblical Interpretations in Preaching; and L. Morris, “The Biblical Use of the Term ‘Blood,’” JTS 6 (1955/56): 77-82.

[4:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “And she again gave birth.”

[4:2]  ⁹ sn The name Abel is not defined here in the text, but the tone is ominous. Abel’s name, the Hebrew word הֶבֶל (hevel), means “breath, vapor, vanity,” foreshadowing Abel’s untimely and premature death.

[4:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and Abel was a shepherd of the flock, and Cain was a worker of the ground.” The designations of the two occupations are expressed with active participles, רֹעֵה (ro’eh, “shepherd”) and עֹבֵד (’oved, “worker”). Abel is occupied with sheep, whereas Cain is living under the curse, cultivating the ground.

[12:9]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew verb נָסַע (nasa’) means “to journey”; more specifically it means to pull up the tent and move to another place. The construction here uses the preterite of this verb with its infinitive absolute to stress the activity of traveling. But it also adds the infinitive absolute of הָלַךְ (halakh) to stress that the traveling was continually going on. Thus “Abram journeyed, going and journeying” becomes “Abram continually journeyed by stages.”

[12:9]  ¹² tn Or “the South [country].”

[3:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “heads.”

[3:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “house.”

[3:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Should you not know justice?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you should!”

[3:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the ones who.”

[3:2]  ¹⁷ tn Or “good.”

[3:2]  ¹⁸ tn Or “evil.”

[3:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “their skin from upon them.” The referent of the pronoun (“my people,” referring to Jacob and/or the house of Israel, with the Lord as the speaker) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and their flesh from their bones.”

[3:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “who.”

[3:3]  ²² tc The MT reads “and they chop up as in a pot.” The translation assumes an emendation of כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka’asher, “as”) to כִּשְׁאֵר (kish’er, “like flesh”).

[3:4]  ²³ tn Heb “then they will cry out to the Lord.” The words “Someday these sinners” have been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:9]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who profits unjustly by evil unjust gain for his house.” On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.

[2:9]  ²⁵ tn Heb “to place his nest in the heights in order to escape from the hand of disaster.”

[2:12]  ²⁶ tn On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.

[2:12]  ²⁷ tn Or “establishes”; or “founds.”