Passage

Genesis 4.1-2

Book: Genesis · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. And the man knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man with the help of Jehovah. 2. And again she bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground."

"3. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto Jehovah. 4. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And Jehovah had respect unto Abel and to his offering:" (Genesis 4:1-4, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. The man knew Eve his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Cain, and said, “I have gotten a man with Yahweh’s help.” 2. Again she gave birth, to Cain’s brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground."

"3. As time passed, Cain brought an offering to Yahweh from the fruit of the ground. 4. Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and of its fat. Yahweh respected Abel and his offering," (Genesis 4:1-4, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. ^{Cain: that is, Gotten, or, Acquired} 2. And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. ^{Abel: Heb. Hebel} ^{a keeper: Heb. a feeder}"

"3. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. ^{in process: Heb. at the end of days} 4. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: ^{flock: Heb. sheep, or, goats}" (Genesis 4:1-4, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. And the man knew Eve his wife, and she conceiveth and beareth Cain, and saith, 'I have gotten a man by Jehovah;' 2. and she addeth to bear his brother, even Abel. And Abel is feeding a flock, and Cain hath been servant of the ground."

"3. And it cometh to pass at the end of days that Cain bringeth from the fruit of the ground a present to Jehovah; 4. and Abel, he hath brought, he also, from the female firstlings of his flock, even from their fat ones; and Jehovah looketh unto Abel and unto his present," (Genesis 4:1-4, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

Quoted in

Cains Wife

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.