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The Genesis of Justice - unit 2 Abel [Hevel] and Walks Schocken Bible Translation Check the Contemporary English Version
Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses, (New York: Schocken Books Inc.) © 1995.
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Torah Study
The Genesis of Justice - unit 2
Cain [Kayin] MurdersAbel [Hevel] and Walks Schocken Bible Translation
Check the Contemporary English Version
Genesis 4:
gift: Heb. minha, usually referring to sacrifices of grain.
3 It was, after the passing of days
that Kayin brought, from the fruit of the soil, a gift to YHWH,fat-parts: i.e., the choicest.
4 and as for Hevel, he too brought—from the firstborn of his flock, from their fat-parts.
YHWH had regard for Hevel and his gift,
5 for Kayin and his gift he had no regard.
Kayin became exceedingly upset and his face fell.
6 YHWH said to Kayin:
Why are you so upset? Why has your face fallen?Is it not thus …: Hebrew obscure. bear-it-aloft: Others use “there is forgiveness,” “there is uplift.” toward you his lust—/ but you can rule over him: Recalling God’s words to Havva in 3:16.
7 Is it not thus:
If you intend good, bear-it-aloft,
but if you do not intend good,
at the entrance is sin, a crouching-demon,
toward you his lust—but you can rule over him.Kayin said…: The verse appears incomplete. Ancient versions add “Come, let us go out into the field.”
8 Kayin said to Hevel his brother…
But then it was, when they were out in the field
that Kayin rose up against Hevel his brother
and he killed him.
9 YHWH said to Kayin:
Where is Hevel your brother?
He said:
I do not know. Am I the watcher of my brother?A sound: Or “Hark!”
10 Now he said:
What have you done!
A sound—your brother’s blood cries out to me from the soil!
11 And now,
damned be you from the soil,
which opened up its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
12 When you wish to work the soil
it will not henceforth give its strength to you;
wavering and wandering must you be on earth!
13 Kayin said to YHWH:
My iniquity is too great to be borne!
14 Here, you drive me away today from the face of the soil,
and from your face must I conceal myself,
I must be wavering and wandering on earth—
now it will be
that whoever comes upon me will kill me!a sign: The exact appearance of the sign is not specified. It is a warning and a protection, not the punishment itself (which is exile).
15 YHWH said to him:
No, therefore,
whoever kills Kayin, sevenfold will it be avenged!
So YHWH set a sign for Kayin,
so that whoever came upon him would not strike him down.
16 Kayin went out from the face of YHWH
and settled in the land of Nod/Wandering, east of Eden.Now he: “He” refers to Kayin.
The Line of Kayin (4:17–26): From whole stories the text turns to several brief accounts, some of which are clearly fragments. The first of these deals with origins: of cities, of certain crafts, and of worship. The former two are associated (perhaps negatively) with Kayin’s line. The only personality in these texts about whom we learn anything is Lemekh—and his “saying” (vv.23–24) seems hopelessly obscure. Some interpreters have understood it as a challenge to God, and thus believe that it has been included here as an example of the wickedness typical of the generations that preceded the Flood.
The names of Adam and Havva’s son and grandson (vv.25–26) are sad reminders of Hevel’s death—a personal touch in an otherwise prosaic section of narrative.17 Kayin knew his wife;
she became pregnant and bore Hanokh.
Now he became the builder of a city
and called the city’s name according to his son’s name,
Hanokh.Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses, (New York: Schocken Books Inc.) © 1995.