Genesis 3:9

3:9 But the Lord God called to ¹  the man and said to him, “Where are you?” ² 

Genesis 4:9

4:9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” ³  And he replied, “I don’t know! Am I my brother’s guardian?” ⁴ 

Genesis 16:8

16:8 He said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She replied, “I’m running away from ⁵  my mistress, Sarai.”

[3:9]  ¹ tn The Hebrew verb קָרָא (qara’, “to call”) followed by the preposition אֶל־ or לְ (’el- or lÿ, “to, unto”) often carries the connotation of “summon.”

[3:9]  ² sn Where are you? The question is probably rhetorical (a figure of speech called erotesis) rather than literal, because it was spoken to the man, who answers it with an explanation of why he was hiding rather than a location. The question has more the force of “Why are you hiding?”

[4:9]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “The one guarding my brother [am] I?”

[16:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the presence of.”