Genesis 4:4-6

4:4 But Abel brought ¹  some of the firstborn of his flock – even the fattest ²  of them. And the Lord was pleased with ³  Abel and his offering, 4:5 but with Cain and his offering he was not pleased. ⁴  So Cain became very angry, ⁵  and his expression was downcast. ⁶ 

4:6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why is your expression downcast?

Genesis 37:11

37:11 His brothers were jealous ⁷  of him, but his father kept in mind what Joseph said. ⁸ 

Genesis 37:1

Joseph’s Dreams

37:1 But Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, ⁹  in the land of Canaan. ¹⁰ 

Genesis 18:8-9

18:8 Abraham ¹¹  then took some curds and milk, along with the calf that had been prepared, and placed the food ¹²  before them. They ate while ¹³  he was standing near them under a tree.

18:9 Then they asked him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” He replied, “There, ¹⁴  in the tent.”

Proverbs 27:4

27:4 Wrath is cruel and anger is overwhelming, ¹⁵ 

but who can stand before jealousy? ¹⁶ 

Ecclesiastes 4:4

Labor Motivated by Envy

4:4 Then I considered ¹⁷  all the skillful work ¹⁸  that is done:

Surely it is nothing more than ¹⁹  competition ²⁰  between one person and another. ²¹ 

This also is profitless – like ²²  chasing the wind.

Matthew 27:18

27:18 (For he knew that they had handed him over because of envy.) ²³ 

Acts 13:45

13:45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy, ²⁴  and they began to contradict ²⁵  what Paul was saying ²⁶  by reviling him. ²⁷ 

Titus 3:3

3:3 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another.

James 3:14-16

3:14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfishness in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth. 3:15 Such ²⁸  wisdom does not come ²⁹  from above but is earthly, natural, ³⁰  demonic. 3:16 For where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is disorder and every evil practice.

James 4:5

4:5 Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says, ³¹  “The spirit that God ³²  caused ³³  to live within us has an envious yearning”? ³⁴ 

James 4:1

Passions and Pride

4:1 Where do the conflicts and where ³⁵  do the quarrels among you come from? Is it not from this, ³⁶  from your passions that battle inside you? ³⁷ 

James 3:12

3:12 Can a fig tree produce olives, my brothers and sisters, ³⁸  or a vine produce figs? Neither can a salt water spring produce fresh water.

[4:4]  ¹ tn Heb “But Abel brought, also he….” The disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) stresses the contrast between Cain’s offering and Abel’s.

[4:4]  ² tn Two prepositional phrases are used to qualify the kind of sacrifice that Abel brought: “from the firstborn” and “from the fattest of them.” These also could be interpreted as a hendiadys: “from the fattest of the firstborn of the flock.” Another option is to understand the second prepositional phrase as referring to the fat portions of the sacrificial sheep. In this case one may translate, “some of the firstborn of his flock, even some of their fat portions” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).

[4:4]  ³ tn The Hebrew verb שָׁעָה (sha’ah) simply means “to gaze at, to have regard for, to look on with favor [or “with devotion”].” The text does not indicate how this was communicated, but it indicates that Cain and Abel knew immediately. Either there was some manifestation of divine pleasure given to Abel and withheld from Cain (fire consuming the sacrifice?), or there was an inner awareness of divine response.

[4:5]  ⁴ sn The Letter to the Hebrews explains the difference between the brothers as one of faith – Abel by faith offered a better sacrifice. Cain’s offering as well as his reaction to God’s displeasure did not reflect faith. See further B. K. Waltke, “Cain and His Offering,” WTJ 48 (1986): 363-72.

[4:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “and it was hot to Cain.” This Hebrew idiom means that Cain “burned” with anger.

[4:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “And his face fell.” The idiom means that the inner anger is reflected in Cain’s facial expression. The fallen or downcast face expresses anger, dejection, or depression. Conversely, in Num 6 the high priestly blessing speaks of the Lord lifting up his face and giving peace.

[37:11]  ⁷ sn Joseph’s brothers were already jealous of him, but this made it even worse. Such jealousy easily leads to action, as the next episode in the story shows. Yet dreams were considered a form of revelation, and their jealousy was not only of the favoritism of their father, but of the dreams. This is why Jacob kept the matter in mind.

[37:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “kept the word.” The referent of the Hebrew term “word” has been specified as “what Joseph said” in the translation for clarity, and the words “in mind” have been supplied for stylistic reasons.

[37:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the land of the sojournings of his father.”

[37:1]  ¹¹ sn The next section begins with the heading This is the account of Jacob in Gen 37:2, so this verse actually forms part of the preceding section as a concluding contrast with Esau and his people. In contrast to all the settled and expanded population of Esau, Jacob was still moving about in the land without a permanent residence and without kings. Even if the Edomite king list was added later (as the reference to kings in Israel suggests), its placement here in contrast to Jacob and his descendants is important. Certainly the text deals with Esau before dealing with Jacob – that is the pattern. But the detail is so great in chap. 36 that the contrast cannot be missed.

[18:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:8]  ¹⁴ tn The words “the food” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the verb has no stated object.

[18:8]  ¹⁵ tn The disjunctive clause is a temporal circumstantial clause subordinate to the main verb.

[18:9]  ¹⁶ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) often accompanies a gesture of pointing or a focused gaze.

[27:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “fierceness of wrath and outpouring [= flood] of anger.” A number of English versions use “flood” here (e.g., NASB, NCV, NLT).

[27:4]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew term translated “jealousy” here probably has the negative sense of “envy” rather than the positive sense of “zeal.” It is a raging emotion (like “anger” and “wrath,” this word has nuances of heat, intensity) that defies reason at times and can be destructive like a consuming fire (e.g., 6:32-35; Song 8:6-7). The rhetorical question is intended to affirm that no one can survive a jealous rage. (Whether one is the subject who is jealous or the object of the jealousy of someone else is not so clear.)

[4:4]  ²² tn Heb “saw.”

[4:4]  ²³ tn Heb “all the toil and all the skill.” This Hebrew clause (אֶת־כָּל־עָמָל וְאֵת כָּל־כִּשְׁרוֹן, ’et-kol-’amal vÿ’et kol-kishron) is a nominal hendiadys (a figurative expression in which two independent phrases are used to connote the same thing). The second functions adverbially, modifying the first, which retains its full nominal function: “all the skillful work.”

[4:4]  ²⁴ tn The phrase “nothing more than” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[4:4]  ²⁵ tn The noun קִנְאַה (qin’ah, “competition”) has a wide range of meanings: “zeal; jealousy; envy; rivalry; competition; suffering; animosity; anger; wrath” (HALOT 1110 s.v.; BDB 888 s.v.). Here, as in 9:6, it denotes “rivalry” (BDB 888 s.v. 1) or “competitive spirit” (HALOT 1110 s.v. 1.b). The LXX rendered it ζῆλος (zhlos, “envy; jealousy”). The English versions reflect this broad range: “rivalry” (NEB, NAB, NASB), “envy” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NRSV, MLB, NIV, NJPS), and “jealousy” (Moffatt).

[4:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “a man and his neighbor.”

[4:4]  ²⁷ tn The word “like” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[27:18]  ²⁵ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[13:45]  ²⁸ sn They were filled with jealousy. Their foolish response to the gospel is noted again (see Acts 5:17). The same verb is used in Acts 7:9; 17:5.

[13:45]  ²⁹ tn The imperfect verb ἀντέλεγον (antelegon) has been translated as an ingressive imperfect in the logical sequence of events: After they were filled with jealousy, the Jewish opponents began to contradict what Paul said.

[13:45]  ³⁰ tn Grk “the things being said by Paul.” For smoothness and simplicity of English style, the passive construction has been converted to active voice in the translation.

[13:45]  ³¹ tn The participle βλασφημοῦντες (blasfhmounte") has been regarded as indicating the means of the action of the main verb. It could also be translated as a finite verb (“and reviled him”) in keeping with contemporary English style. The direct object (“him”) is implied rather than expressed and could be impersonal (“it,” referring to what Paul was saying rather than Paul himself), but the verb occurs more often in contexts involving defamation or slander against personal beings (not always God). For a very similar context to this one, compare Acts 18:6. The translation “blaspheme” is not used because in contemporary English its meaning is more narrowly defined and normally refers to blasphemy against God (not what Paul’s opponents were doing here). The modern term “slandering” comes close to what was being done to Paul here.

[3:15]  ³¹ tn Grk “This.”

[3:15]  ³² tn Grk “come down”; “descend.”

[3:15]  ³³ tn Grk “soulish,” which describes life apart from God, characteristic of earthly human life as opposed to what is spiritual. Cf. 1 Cor 2:14; 15:44-46; Jude 19.

[4:5]  ³⁴ tn Grk “vainly says.”

[4:5]  ³⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:5]  ³⁶ tc The Byzantine text and a few other mss (P 33 Ï) have the intransitive κατῴκησεν (katwkhsen) here, which turns τὸ πνεῦμα (to pneuma) into the subject of the verb: “The spirit which lives within us.” But the more reliable and older witnesses (Ì⁷⁴ א B Ψ 049 1241 1739 al) have the causative verb, κατῴκισεν (katwkisen), which implies a different subject and τὸ πνεῦμα as the object: “The spirit that he causes to live within us.” Both because of the absence of an explicit subject and the relative scarcity of the causative κατοικίζω (katoikizw, “cause to dwell”) compared to the intransitive κατοικέω (katoikew, “live, dwell”) in biblical Greek (κατοικίζω does not occur in the NT at all, and occurs one twelfth as frequently as κατοικέω in the LXX), it is easy to see why scribes would replace κατῴκισεν with κατῴκησεν. Thus, on internal and external grounds, κατῴκισεν is the preferred reading.

[4:5]  ³⁷ tn Interpreters debate the referent of the word “spirit” in this verse: (1) The translation takes “spirit” to be the lustful capacity within people that produces a divided mind (1:8, 14) and inward conflicts regarding God (4:1-4). God has allowed it to be in man since the fall, and he provides his grace (v. 6) and the new birth through the gospel message (1:18-25) to counteract its evil effects. (2) On the other hand the word “spirit” may be taken positively as the Holy Spirit and the sense would be, “God yearns jealously for the Spirit he caused to live within us.” But the word for “envious” or “jealous” is generally negative in biblical usage and the context before and after seems to favor the negative interpretation.

[4:1]  ³⁷ tn The word “where” is repeated in Greek for emphasis.

[4:1]  ³⁸ tn Grk “from here.”

[4:1]  ³⁹ tn Grk “in your members [i.e., parts of the body].”

[3:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.