Genesis 4:1

The Story of Cain and Abel

4:1 Now ¹  the man had marital relations with ²  his wife Eve, and she became pregnant ³  and gave birth to Cain. Then she said, “I have created ⁴  a man just as the Lord did!” ⁵ 

Genesis 4:9

4:9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” ⁶  And he replied, “I don’t know! Am I my brother’s guardian?” ⁷ 

Genesis 4:15

4:15 But the Lord said to him, “All right then, ⁸  if anyone kills Cain, Cain will be avenged seven times as much.” ⁹  Then the Lord put a special mark ¹⁰  on Cain so that no one who found him would strike him down. ¹¹ 

Genesis 4:17

The Beginning of Civilization

4:17 Cain had marital relations ¹²  with his wife, and she became pregnant ¹³  and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was building a city, and he named the city after ¹⁴  his son Enoch.

Genesis 4:25

4:25 And Adam had marital relations ¹⁵  with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son. She named him Seth, saying, “God has given ¹⁶  me another child ¹⁷  in place of Abel because Cain killed him.”

[4:1]  ¹ tn The disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) introduces a new episode in the ongoing narrative.

[4:1]  ² tn Heb “the man knew,” a frequent euphemism for sexual relations.

[4:1]  ³ tn Or “she conceived.”

[4:1]  ⁴ tn Here is another sound play (paronomasia) on a name. The sound of the verb קָנִיתִי (qaniti, “I have created”) reflects the sound of the name Cain in Hebrew (קַיִן, qayin) and gives meaning to it. The saying uses the Qal perfect of קָנָה (qanah). There are two homonymic verbs with this spelling, one meaning “obtain, acquire” and the other meaning “create” (see Gen 14:19, 22; Deut 32:6; Ps 139:13; Prov 8:22). The latter fits this context very well. Eve has created a man.

[4:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “with the Lord.” The particle אֶת־ (’et) is not the accusative/object sign, but the preposition “with” as the ancient versions attest. Some take the preposition in the sense of “with the help of” (see BDB 85 s.v. אֵת; cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV), while others prefer “along with” in the sense of “like, equally with, in common with” (see Lev 26:39; Isa 45:9; Jer 23:28). Either works well in this context; the latter is reflected in the present translation. Some understand אֶת־ as the accusative/object sign and translate, “I have acquired a man – the Lord.” They suggest that the woman thought (mistakenly) that she had given birth to the incarnate Lord, the Messiah who would bruise the Serpent’s head. This fanciful suggestion is based on a questionable allegorical interpretation of Gen 3:15 (see the note there on the word “heel”).

[4:9]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ tn Heb “The one guarding my brother [am] I?”

[4:15]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew term לָכֵן (lakhen, “therefore”) in this context carries the sense of “Okay,” or “in that case then I will do this.”

[4:15]  ¹² sn The symbolic number seven is used here to emphasize that the offender will receive severe punishment. For other rhetorical and hyperbolic uses of the expression “seven times over,” see Pss 12:6; 79:12; Prov 6:31; Isa 30:26.

[4:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “sign”; “reminder.” The term “sign” is not used in the translation because it might imply to an English reader that God hung a sign on Cain. The text does not identify what the “sign” was. It must have been some outward, visual reminder of Cain’s special protected status.

[4:15]  ¹⁴ sn God becomes Cain’s protector. Here is common grace – Cain and his community will live on under God’s care, but without salvation.

[4:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “knew,” a frequent euphemism for sexual relations.

[4:17]  ¹⁷ tn Or “she conceived.”

[4:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “according to the name of.”

[4:25]  ²¹ tn Heb “knew,” a frequent euphemism for sexual relations.

[4:25]  ²² sn The name Seth probably means something like “placed”; “appointed”; “set”; “granted,” assuming it is actually related to the verb that is used in the sentiment. At any rate, the name שֵׁת (shet) and the verb שָׁת (shat, “to place, to appoint, to set, to grant”) form a wordplay (paronomasia).

[4:25]  ²³ tn Heb “offspring.”