Passage

Genesis 4.1

Book: Genesis · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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.

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. (Genesis 4:1-3, ASV)

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.”

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. (Genesis 4:1-3, WEB)

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}

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} (Genesis 4:1-3, KJV)

YLT

1. And the man knew Eve his wife, and she conceiveth and beareth Cain, and saith, 'I have gotten a man by Jehovah;'

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; (Genesis 4:1-3, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: the narrator of Genesis
Audience: Israel, as the book's first readers
Location: outside the garden
Time period: primeval history, before the patriarchal narratives

Theological reading

Eve bears Cain and says she has gotten a man with the help of the LORD.

The Hebrew is difficult and the ambiguity is worth stating: qaniti ish et-YHWH has been rendered "with the LORD," "from the LORD," and, in a reading with a long history, "I have gotten a man, the LORD." The last has been used to make Eve's words a first messianic expectation, and it is grammatically strained; the ordinary renderings are safer.

What is clear is the note of hope. The first birth after the expulsion is greeted as divine help, which fits the promise of 3:15 that the woman's seed would bruise the serpent's head. The narrative then proceeds immediately to the first murder, which sets the pattern of the primeval history: each hopeful beginning is followed by a fall, and the promise is carried forward through the wreckage.

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.

H0120 - adam, adam, Strong's H0120
H3045 - yada, yada, Strong's H3045
H3068 - YHWH, YHWH, Strong's H3068

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

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.