Genesis 4:5

4:5 but with Cain and his offering he was not pleased. ¹  So Cain became very angry, ²  and his expression was downcast. ³ 

Genesis 4:8

4:8 Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” ⁴  While they were in the field, Cain attacked ⁵  his brother ⁶  Abel and killed him.

Genesis 4:2

4:2 Then she gave birth ⁷  to his brother Abel. ⁸  Abel took care of the flocks, while Cain cultivated the ground. ⁹ 

Genesis 3:1

The Temptation and the Fall

3:1 Now ¹⁰  the serpent ¹¹  was more shrewd ¹² 

than any of the wild animals ¹³  that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that ¹⁴  God ¹⁵  said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” ¹⁶ 

Genesis 13:1

Abram’s Solution to the Strife

13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt into the Negev. ¹⁷  He took his wife and all his possessions with him, as well as Lot. ¹⁸ 

Genesis 13:1

Abram’s Solution to the Strife

13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt into the Negev. ¹⁹  He took his wife and all his possessions with him, as well as Lot. ²⁰ 

Genesis 13:1

Abram’s Solution to the Strife

13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt into the Negev. ²¹  He took his wife and all his possessions with him, as well as Lot. ²² 

Genesis 20:10

20:10 Then Abimelech asked ²³  Abraham, “What prompted you to do this thing?” ²⁴ 

Genesis 20:1

Abraham and Abimelech

20:1 Abraham journeyed from there to the Negev ²⁵  region and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he lived as a temporary resident ²⁶  in Gerar,

Genesis 2:5-6

2:5 Now ²⁷  no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field ²⁸  had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. ²⁹  2:6 Springs ³⁰  would well up ³¹  from the earth and water ³²  the whole surface of the ground. ³³ 

Genesis 2:1

2:1 The heavens and the earth ³⁴  were completed with everything that was in them. ³⁵ 

Proverbs 26:24

26:24 The one who hates others disguises ³⁶  it with his lips,

but he stores up ³⁷  deceit within him. ³⁸ 

Proverbs 28:17

28:17 The one who is tormented ³⁹  by the murder ⁴⁰  of another will flee to the pit; ⁴¹ 

let no one support him.

Luke 4:29

4:29 They got up, forced ⁴²  him out of the town, ⁴³  and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that ⁴⁴  they could throw him down the cliff. ⁴⁵ 

[4:5]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “and it was hot to Cain.” This Hebrew idiom means that Cain “burned” with anger.

[4:5]  ³ 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.

[4:8]  ⁴ tc The MT has simply “and Cain said to Abel his brother,” omitting Cain’s words to Abel. It is possible that the elliptical text is original. Perhaps the author uses the technique of aposiopesis, “a sudden silence” to create tension. In the midst of the story the narrator suddenly rushes ahead to what happened in the field. It is more likely that the ancient versions (Samaritan Pentateuch, LXX, Vulgate, and Syriac), which include Cain’s words, “Let’s go out to the field,” preserve the original reading here. After writing אָחִיו (’akhiyv, “his brother”), a scribe’s eye may have jumped to the end of the form בַּשָּׂדֶה (basadeh, “to the field”) and accidentally omitted the quotation. This would be an error of virtual homoioteleuton. In older phases of the Hebrew script the sequence יו (yod-vav) on אָחִיו is graphically similar to the final ה (he) on בַּשָּׂדֶה.

[4:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “arose against” (in a hostile sense).

[4:8]  ⁶ sn The word “brother” appears six times in vv. 8-11, stressing the shocking nature of Cain’s fratricide (see 1 John 3:12).

[4:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “And she again gave birth.”

[4:2]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ 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.

[3:1]  ¹⁰ tn The chapter begins with a disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + predicate) that introduces a new character and a new scene in the story.

[3:1]  ¹¹ sn Many theologians identify or associate the serpent with Satan. In this view Satan comes in the disguise of a serpent or speaks through a serpent. This explains the serpent’s capacity to speak. While later passages in the Bible may indicate there was a satanic presence behind the serpent (see, for example, Rev 12:9), the immediate context pictures the serpent as simply one of the animals of the field created by God (see vv. 1, 14). An ancient Jewish interpretation explains the reference to the serpent in a literal manner, attributing the capacity to speak to all the animals in the orchard. This text (Jub. 3:28) states, “On that day [the day the man and woman were expelled from the orchard] the mouth of all the beasts and cattle and birds and whatever walked or moved was stopped from speaking because all of them used to speak to one another with one speech and one language [presumed to be Hebrew, see 12:26].” Josephus, Ant. 1.1.4 (1.41) attributes the serpent’s actions to jealousy. He writes that “the serpent, living in the company of Adam and his wife, grew jealous of the blessings which he supposed were destined for them if they obeyed God’s behests, and, believing that disobedience would bring trouble on them, he maliciously persuaded the woman to taste of the tree of wisdom.”

[3:1]  ¹² tn The Hebrew word עָרוּם (’arum) basically means “clever.” This idea then polarizes into the nuances “cunning” (in a negative sense, see Job 5:12; 15:5), and “prudent” in a positive sense (Prov 12:16, 23; 13:16; 14:8, 15, 18; 22:3; 27:12). This same polarization of meaning can be detected in related words derived from the same root (see Exod 21:14; Josh 9:4; 1 Sam 23:22; Job 5:13; Ps 83:3). The negative nuance obviously applies in Gen 3, where the snake attempts to talk the woman into disobeying God by using half-truths and lies.

[3:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “animals of the field.”

[3:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Indeed that God said.” The beginning of the quotation is elliptical and therefore difficult to translate. One must supply a phrase like “is it true”: “Indeed, [is it true] that God said.”

[3:1]  ¹⁵ sn God. The serpent does not use the expression “Yahweh God” [Lord God] because there is no covenant relationship involved between God and the serpent. He only speaks of “God.” In the process the serpent draws the woman into his manner of speech so that she too only speaks of “God.”

[3:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “you must not eat from all the tree[s] of the orchard.” After the negated prohibitive verb, מִכֹּל (mikkol, “from all”) has the meaning “from any.” Note the construction in Lev 18:26, where the statement “you must not do from all these abominable things” means “you must not do any of these abominable things.” See Lev 22:25 and Deut 28:14 as well.

[13:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “the South [country]” (also in v. 3).

[13:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “And Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all which was his, and Lot with him, to the Negev.”

[13:1]  ¹⁹ tn Or “the South [country]” (also in v. 3).

[13:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “And Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all which was his, and Lot with him, to the Negev.”

[13:1]  ²¹ tn Or “the South [country]” (also in v. 3).

[13:1]  ²² tn Heb “And Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all which was his, and Lot with him, to the Negev.”

[20:10]  ²³ tn Heb “And Abimelech said to.”

[20:10]  ²⁴ tn Heb “What did you see that you did this thing?” The question implies that Abraham had some motive for deceiving Abimelech.

[20:1]  ²⁵ tn Or “the South [country]”; Heb “the land of the Negev.”

[20:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and he sojourned.”

[2:5]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Now every sprig of the field before it was.” The verb forms, although appearing to be imperfects, are technically preterites coming after the adverb טֶּרֶם (terem). The word order (conjunction + subject + predicate) indicates a disjunctive clause, which provides background information for the following narrative (as in 1:2). Two negative clauses are given (“before any sprig…”, and “before any cultivated grain” existed), followed by two causal clauses explaining them, and then a positive circumstantial clause is given – again dealing with water as in 1:2 (water would well up).

[2:5]  ²⁸ tn The first term, שִׂיחַ (siakh), probably refers to the wild, uncultivated plants (see Gen 21:15; Job 30:4,7); whereas the second, עֵשֶׂב (’esev), refers to cultivated grains. It is a way of saying: “back before anything was growing.”

[2:5]  ²⁹ tn The two causal clauses explain the first two disjunctive clauses: There was no uncultivated, general growth because there was no rain, and there were no grains because there was no man to cultivate the soil.

[2:6]  ³⁰ tn The conjunction vav (ו) introduces a third disjunctive clause. The Hebrew word אֵד (’ed) was traditionally translated “mist” because of its use in Job 36:27. However, an Akkadian cognate edu in Babylonian texts refers to subterranean springs or waterways. Such a spring would fit the description in this context, since this water “goes up” and waters the ground.

[2:6]  ³¹ tn Heb “was going up.” The verb is an imperfect form, which in this narrative context carries a customary nuance, indicating continual action in past time.

[2:6]  ³² tn The perfect with vav (ו) consecutive carries the same nuance as the preceding verb. Whenever it would well up, it would water the ground.

[2:6]  ³³ tn The Hebrew word אֲדָמָה (’adamah) actually means “ground; fertile soil.”

[2:1]  ³⁴ tn See the note on the phrase “the heavens and the earth” in 1:1.

[2:1]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and all the host of them.” Here the “host” refers to all the entities and creatures that God created to populate the world.

[26:24]  ³⁶ tn The Niphal imperfect from נָכַר (nakhar) means “to act [or, treat] as a foreigner [or, stranger]; to misconstrue; to disguise.” The direct object (“it”) is not present in the Hebrew text but is implied. In this passage it means that the hater speaks what is “foreign” to his thought; in other words, he dissembles.

[26:24]  ³⁷ tn Or “places; puts; lays up” (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB).

[26:24]  ³⁸ tn Heb “within him” (so KJV, ASV) or “in his midst”; NAB “in his inmost being.”

[28:17]  ³⁹ tn The form is the Qal passive participle. The verb means “to oppress; to wrong; to extort”; here the idea of being “oppressed” would refer to the burden of a guilty conscience (hence “tormented”; cf. NAB, NRSV “burdened”). Some commentators have wanted to emend the text to read “suspected,” or “charged with,” or “given to,” etc., but if the motive is religious and not legal, then “oppressed” or “tormented” is preferred.

[28:17]  ⁴⁰ sn The text has “the blood of a life”; blood will be the metonymy of effect for the murder, the shedding of blood.

[28:17]  ⁴¹ tn The verse is cryptic; it simply says that he will “flee to the pit.” Some have taken the “pit” to refer to the place of detention for prisoners, but why would he flee to that place? It seems rather to refer to death. This could mean that (1) since there is no place for him to go outside of the grave, he should flee to the pit (cf. TEV, NLT), or (2) he will be a fugitive until he goes to the grave (cf. NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, CEV). Neither one of these options is easily derived from the text. The verse seems to be saying that the one who is guilty of murder will flee, and no one should assist him. The meaning of “the pit” is unresolved.

[4:29]  ⁴² tn Grk “cast.”

[4:29]  ⁴³ tn Or “city.”

[4:29]  ⁴⁴ tn The Greek conjunction ὥστε (Jwste) here indicates their purpose.

[4:29]  ⁴⁵ sn The attempt to throw him down the cliff looks like “lynch law,” but it may really be an indication that Jesus was regarded as a false prophet who was worthy of death (Deut 13:5). Such a sentence meant being thrown into a pit and then stoned.