Genesis 4

Notes

1. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 11, 52

   ἄνθρωπος, "human" by default, is "man" here because a woman, Eve, distinct from the child, stands in the same verse (11); the Masoretic version also reads "a man" (אִישׁ). διὰ τοῦ θεοῦ, "through God," where the Masoretic version reads "with ADONAI": the Greek names God, not the Lord, and makes him the means of the birth.

2. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 52, 138

   The Greek divides what the Hebrew keeps one: Cain brings a θυσία, "sacrifice" (4:3, 5), and Abel's offerings are δῶρα, "gifts" (4:4), where the Masoretic version reads "gift" (מִנְחָה) for both. Heb 11:4 takes up the Greek's words: "By faith Abel offered to God a greater sacrifice than Cain, … God testifying on his gifts." In 4:4–5 the Greek also varies the verb, "looked upon" Abel and "did not heed" Cain, where the Masoretic version reads "gazed" both times, and has Cain "grieved," where it reads "it flared for Cain."

3. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 52, 54, 138

   The Greek reads a different sentence. οὐκ, ἐὰν ὀρθῶς προσενέγκῃς, ὀρθῶς δὲ μὴ διέλῃς, ἥμαρτες; ἡσύχασον: "If you offered rightly but did not divide rightly, did you not sin? Be still." The Masoretic version reads "Is it not—if you do well—a lifting? And if you do not do well, at the doorway sin is crouching." The Greek reads the Hebrew's "doorway" (לַפֶּתַח) as a word for cutting the offering in pieces, "sin" (חַטָּאת) as the verb "you sinned," and "crouching" (רֹבֵץ) as "lie still," so that Cain's fault lies in the dividing of the sacrifice. 1 Clement 4:4 quotes the verse in this Greek form. "His turning" (ἀποστροφή) is the word of 3:16; the Masoretic version reads "his longing."

4. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 54, 141

   Cain's words are a plus of the Greek: "Let us go through into the plain." The Masoretic version reads "And Cain said to Abel his brother," with nothing said. The alignment seeds the verb and "the plain" as two pluses, and one span answers both: the preposition between them, εἰς "into," belongs to the same words. The Samaritan Pentateuch, the Peshitta, the Vulgate (egrediamur foras) and the Targums also give Cain's words.

5. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Ruling 142

   Οὐ γινώσκω, "I do not come to know": γινώσκω keeps its home gloss (142e), which holds also where the Greek is in the present. The Masoretic version reads "I do not know."

6. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 53, 138

   Swete's text reads ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, "upon the land," where Rahlfs' text reads ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, "from the land," with the Masoretic version, which reads "cursed are you from the ground." In Swete's text Cain is cursed where he stands, not driven from the ground; his banishment comes in 4:14.

7. Reading↩ Back to the text

   στένων καὶ τρέμων, "groaning and trembling," here and at 4:14, where the Masoretic version reads "a waverer and a wanderer" (נָע וָנָד). The Hebrew pair rhymes, and its second word sounds in the land of Nod (4:16); the Greek pair keeps the two participles and their likeness of ending, but not the play on the name.

8. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Μείζων ἡ αἰτία μου τοῦ ἀφεθῆναί με, "Greater is my charge than that I be let go": the Greek reads the Hebrew's "lifting" (נְשֹׂא) as the lifting away of guilt, as in Exod 34:7, so that Cain speaks of a charge too great to be dismissed. The Masoretic version reads "Too great is my iniquity for lifting."

9. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 54, 143

   The Greek lacks the Masoretic version's "and it shall be" (וְהָיָה) before "everyone finding me," and the alignment does not set it, so the lack is marked (54). εἰ, "if," where the Masoretic version reads "Look" (הֵן): the Greek reads the particle in its conditional sense.

10. Reading↩ Back to the text

    Rulings 52, 138

    Οὐχ οὕτως, "Not thus!": the Greek reads the Hebrew's "thus" (לָכֵן) as "not so" (לֹא כֵן), and the Vulgate follows (nequaquam ita fiet). The Masoretic version reads "Thus: every killer of Cain, sevenfold shall it be avenged." The Greek reads ἑπτὰ ἐκδικούμενα παραλύσει, "shall loosen seven things avenged": the killer of Cain shall undo, or release on himself, seven punishments. ἀνελεῖν, "do away with," where the Masoretic version reads "strike."

11. Reading↩ Back to the text

    Rulings 18, 52

    Μαθουσαλά is the name the Greek gives to Seth's descendant Methuselah (5:21–27). Here it gives it also to the descendant of Cain whom the Masoretic version calls "Methushael" (מְתוּשָׁאֵל), so the two lines share a name. The name is printed as the Greek has it, "Methuselah," with the difference marked (18). The Greek forms of the other names of Cain's line are spellings of the same names (Γαιδάδ for Irad, Μαιήλ for Mehujael), and the familiar forms are printed; all are in the table below.

12. Reading↩ Back to the text

    Rulings 52, 138

    ὁ καταδείξας ψαλτήριον καὶ κιθάραν, "the one who introduced psaltery and lyre," where the Masoretic version reads "the father of everyone grasping lyre and pipe." The Greek makes Jubal the inventor where the Hebrew makes him the ancestor, and names the psaltery (a harp plucked by hand) and the lyre (κιθάρα, Rev 5:8; 1 Cor 14:7) where the Masoretic version reads "lyre and pipe." So also at 4:20, "of those dwelling in tents, cattle-rearers," where the Masoretic version reads "of dweller in tent and livestock."

13. Reading↩ Back to the text

    Rulings 18, 54, 139

    Θόβελ, "Tubal": the Greek has the first part of the name the Masoretic version reads "Tubal-cain," and lacks "cain" both times. The alignment sets the lack before the name (‸), as adopted here; the missing part is the name's second half. The Greek also lacks "every" (כָּל) in "a sharpener of every cutter," and reads "a hammerer, a smith of bronze and iron."

14. Reading↩ Back to the text

    Rulings 81, 102

    The song of Lamech (4:23–24) is lined as poetry, as the Masoretic version lines it (81b), with the same colons.

15. Reading↩ Back to the text

    Rulings 52, 138

    ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά, "seventy times seven," where the Masoretic version reads "seventy and seven." Jesus answers Peter in these words (Matt 18:22), turning Lamech's measure of vengeance into the measure of release. The Greek also puts the vengeance in the perfect, "it has been avenged," where the Masoretic version reads "shall Cain be avenged."

16. Reading↩ Back to the text

    Rulings 54, 141, 143

    The Greek names the woman, Εὕαν, "Eve," where the Masoretic version reads "his woman" alone; the alignment does not set the name, so it is marked as a plus (54, 141). ἐξανέστησεν, "raised up," where the Masoretic version reads "set": the verb of Mark 12:19 and Luke 20:28, "raise up seed for his brother." The Greek closes "whom Cain killed," where the Masoretic version reads "for Cain killed him," and lacks "again" (‸).

17. Reading↩ Back to the text

    Rulings 52, 138

    οὗτος ἤλπισεν, "this one hoped," where the Masoretic version reads "Then it was begun" (הוּחַל): the Greek reads the Hebrew's verb as "hope" (יָחַל) and makes Enosh its subject, so that the first to call on the name is a man who hopes. The Greek adds "God" to "the Lord" (⸢⸣) and lacks the Masoretic version's "to him too" (‸).