Discovery BoxGenesis 4:2
Context4:2 Then she gave birth 1 to his brother Abel. 2 Abel took care of the flocks, while Cain cultivated the ground. 3
Genesis 4:4
Context4:4 But Abel brought 4 some of the firstborn of his flock – even the fattest 5 of them. And the Lord was pleased with 6 Abel and his offering,
Genesis 4:8-9
Context4:8 Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” 7 While they were in the field, Cain attacked 8 his brother 9 Abel and killed him.
4:9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” 10 And he replied, “I don’t know! Am I my brother’s guardian?” 11
Genesis 4:25
Context4:25 And Adam had marital relations 12 with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son. She named him Seth, saying, “God has given 13 me another child 14 in place of Abel because Cain killed him.”
[4:2] 1 tn Heb “And she again gave birth.”
[4:2] 2 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] 3 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.
[4:4] 4 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] 5 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] 6 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.
[4:8] 7 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] 8 tn Heb “arose against” (in a hostile sense).
[4:8] 9 sn The word “brother” appears six times in vv. 8-11, stressing the shocking nature of Cain’s fratricide (see 1 John 3:12).
[4:9] 10 sn Where is Abel your brother? Again the
[4:9] 11 tn Heb “The one guarding my brother [am] I?”
[4:25] 13 tn Heb “knew,” a frequent euphemism for sexual relations.
[4:25] 14 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).
