Texts in Conversation
Genesis 4:8 leaves Cain’s words to Abel unstated, but the Greek Septuagint adds “let us go out to the field” before the killing. This fills a gap in the story and shows how early translators tried to make the sequence clearer for readers.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 4:8
Hebrew Bible
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why is your expression downcast? 7 Is it not true that if you do what is right, you will be fine? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it.” 8 Cain spoke to his brother Abel.21 While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” And he replied, “I don’t know! Am I my brother’s guardian?” 10 But the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!
Date: 750–400 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Genesis 4:8
Septuagint
6 And the Lord God said to Cain, Why have you become very sorrowful and why is your face fallen? 7 Have you not sinned if you have brought it rightly, but not rightly divided it? be still, to you shall be his submission, and you shall rule over him. 8 And Cain said to Abel his brother, Let us go out into the plain; and it happened that when they were in the plain Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and killed him. 9 And God said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? and he said, I do not know, am I my brother's keeper? 10 And God said, What have you done? the voice of your brother's blood cries to me out of the ground.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Within the interval of silence between God and Cain, the narrative unfolds in a moment of conversation between Cain and his brother, which culminated in the murder of Abel. Several ancient versions (such as the Septuagint [LXX], Vulgate [Vg.], Syriac, Samaritan Pentateuch) provide the textual gap in the Masoretic Text’s rendering of Genesis 4:8, ‘And Cain said to his brother Abel …’ Modern versions such as New Jerusalem Bible (NJB), New International Version (NIV), and New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), insert ‘Let us go out to the field’ to verse 8 ..."
B.O. Boloje, “Rethinking Violence Through the Narrative of Genesis 4:1-16,” IDS 55.1 (2021): 1–8.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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