Genesis 4 – Line 00089

LINE RENDERING FILE

YOU ARE WELCOME HERE

This isn’t a lesson. It’s a space. Come as you are. Let the line speak to you.

FILE TAGS

INTRO

This file gives a minimal English phrasing of the original line, built directly from the Line Source File.

It’s readable, but not smoothed. Nothing is added beyond what’s traceable.

RENDERED LINE

And YHWH said to Cain, “Where is Abel, your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

RENDERING NOTES

“And YHWH said to Cain” follows וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֶל־קַיִן; standard divine address format.

“Where is Abel, your brother?” preserves אֵי הֶבֶל אָחִיךָ with full relational name.

“And he said, ‘I do not know’” reflects וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא יָדַעְתִּי; denial of awareness.

“Am I my brother’s keeper?” is direct rendering of הֲשֹׁמֵר אָחִי אָנֹכִי; retains rhetorical tone and emphatic “anokhi” (“I”).

The line holds tension between divine inquiry and human deflection.

INSERTION / HELPER WORD TRACKING

No helper words added beyond minimal linking punctuation.

“Where is” and “Am I” supplied from interrogative forms.

Quotation marks used to delineate divine and human speech.

Maintained structure of questions and sequence.

CONTEXTUAL PLACEMENT

Occurs immediately after Cain has killed Abel (v.8).

The line introduces divine awareness into concealed human action.

Continues pattern of divine questions seeking human self-disclosure (cf. Gen 3:9, 4:6).

Cain’s reply is deflective and rhetorical, introducing moral evasion.

STRUCTURAL ALIGNMENT NOTES

Two speech events; divine and human; juxtaposed.

Divine question: direct, seeking; human reply: evasive, ironic.

The use of “brother” twice intensifies the betrayal and moral tension.

Echoes the Eden pattern: wrongdoing → divine question → denial/deflection.

CAUTIONARY REMINDER

This rendering is provided for orientation only.

It draws from the Line Source File and reflects the structure of the original text as faithfully as possible, while adapting to minimal English phrasing.

Interpretive meaning is not asserted. For lexical and grammatical details, consult the Line Source File.