Genesis 4:7 NIV

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Genesis 4:7

if. The Hebrew Accent ( Pashta ) puts the emphasis on the 1st "well" and on this 2nd "if", to mark the solemn and Important alternative. sin = sin offering. Hebrew. chata. See App-43 . The word "offering" is actually added in Exodus 30:10 . Leviticus 4:3 , Leviticus 6:25 ; Leviticus 8:2 .Psalms 40:6 . Compare 2 Corinthians 5:21 .Ephesians 5:2 . lieth. Lieth is mase. Sin offering is feminine. So that the Hebrew reads "at the entrance [a male] is lying, a sin offering". shall be. Supply... read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Genesis 4:7

"If thou doest well, shall it not be lifted up? and if thou doest not well, sin coucheth at the door; and unto thee shall be its desire; but do thou rule over it."This is one of the most difficult and disputed verses in Genesis, the problem being the identity of what is referred to in "sin lieth at the door." The usual theory that "sin" is here characterized or personified as a "savage beast," or a "wild demon" about to spring upon Cain, and that God was warning him to rule over the "sin" and... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Genesis 4:7

7. If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?—A better rendering is, "Shalt thou not have the excellency"? which is the true sense of the words referring to the high privileges and authority belonging to the first-born in patriarchal times. sin lieth at the door—sin, that is, a sin offering—a common meaning of the word in Scripture (as in Hosea 4:8; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 9:28). The purport of the divine rebuke to Cain was this, "Why art thou angry, as if unjustly treated? If thou... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 4:1-8

Was Eve thanking God for helping her bear a son (Cain), [Note: Mathews, p. 265; Wenham, pp. 101-2.] or was she boasting that she had created a man (Cain) as God had created a man (Adam, Genesis 4:1)? [Note: Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., pp. 111-12; Waltke, Genesis, p. 96.] The former alternative seems preferable (cf. Genesis 4:25). "Cain" means "acquisition," a portent of his own primary proclivity. Abel, from the Hebrew hebel, means "breath, vapor, exhalation, or what ascends." As things... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 4:1-16

2. The murder of Abel 4:1-16Chapter 4 shows the spread of sin from Adam’s family to the larger society that his descendants produced. Not only did sin affect everyone, but people became increasingly more wicked as time passed. Human self-assertion leads to violence. Genesis 4:1-16 show that the Fall affected Adam and Eve’s children as well as themselves. Genesis 4:17-26 trace what became of Cain and Seth and their descendants. Note that the chapter begins and ends with the subject of... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 4:4-26

B. What became of the creation 2:4-4:26Moses described what happened to the creation by recording significant events in the Garden of Eden, the murder of Abel, and the family of Cain."The section begins with a description of the creation of Adam and Eve and traces their sin, God’s curse on sin, and the expansion of sin in their descendants. No longer at rest, mankind experienced flight and fear, making his way in the world, surviving, and developing civilization. As if in answer to the... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:1-26

Cain and Abel. The Descendants of CainThe narrative, which forms part of the Primitive document, impressively shows how sin, having once appeared, became hereditary in the human race, and speedily developed into its most revolting form. Its details enable us to see how jealousy, when indulged, leads to hatred and murder, and violates not only the ties of humanity but those of family affection; how the sinner casts off all regard for the truth and for his natural obligations; how progress in sin... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 4:7

(7) If thou doest well.—This most difficult verse is capable of a satisfactory interpretation, provided that we refuse to admit into this ancient narrative the ideas of a subsequent age. Literally, the words mean, If thou doest well, is there not lifting up? It had just been said that his countenance fell; and this lifting up is often elsewhere applied to the countenance. (Comp. Job 10:15; Job 11:15.) “Instead, then, of thy present gloomy despondent mood, in which thou goest about with downcast... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Genesis 4:1-26

Genesis 4:0 'Marriage, which has been the bourne of so many narratives, is still a great beginning, or it was to Adam and Eve, who kept their honeymoon in Eden, but had their first little one among the thorns and thistles of the wilderness. It is still the beginning of the home epic the gradual conquest or irremediable loss of that complete union which makes the advancing years a climax, and age the harvest of sweet memories in common.' George Eliot, Middlemarch. Cain and Abel Genesis 4:3-5... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Genesis 4:1-26

CAIN AND ABELGenesis 4:1-26IT is not the purpose of this narrator to write the history of the world. It is not his purpose to write even the history of mankind. His object is to write the history of redemption. Starting from the broad fact of man’s alienation from God, he means to trace that element in human history which results in the perfect re-union of God and man. The keynote has been struck in the promise already given that the seed of the woman should prevail over the seed of the... read more

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Genesis 4:7

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Genesis 4:7

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Genesis 4:7

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 4:1-8

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 4:1-16

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 4:4-26

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:1-26

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 4:7

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Genesis 4:1-26

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Genesis 4:1-26

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