Genesis 4 – Line 00095

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 him, “Not so—whoever kills Cain will be avenged sevenfold.” And YHWH set a sign for Cain, to prevent anyone who found him from striking him.

RENDERING NOTES

“Not so” renders לֹא־כֵן (lo-khen), a firm divine rebuttal to Cain’s fear in v.14.

“Whoever kills Cain” (כָּל־הֹרֵג קַיִן) = general participial structure; any potential attacker.

“Will be avenged sevenfold” translates שִׁבְעָתַיִם יֻקָּם; future passive causative.

“Set a sign” = וַיָּשֶׂם ... אוֹת; active divine intervention, though nature of sign remains ambiguous.

“To prevent striking him” = לְבִלְתִּי הַכּוֹת־אֹתוֹ; infinitive construct with negative intent; protective clause.

“Anyone who found him” (כָּל־מֹצְאוֹ) = broad potentiality, matching Cain’s own fear.

INSERTION / HELPER WORD TRACKING

“To him” and “will be” added for clarity of direct speech and tense.

“From” in “from striking him” inserted to preserve English idiomatic protection clause.

Quotation marks used for clarity in reported speech.

CONTEXTUAL PLACEMENT

Immediate response to Cain’s fear (v.14); divine mitigation without reversal of exile.

Marks first divine declaration of protective justice post-crime.

Establishes precedent for divine mark as signifier of belonging and restraint.

STRUCTURAL ALIGNMENT NOTES

Responds structurally and thematically to vv.13–14; builds from lament to protection.

The “sign” motif forms an echo pattern with later sealing/marking narratives (e.g., Passover blood, Ezekiel 9).

Literary sequence: judgment → protest → reassurance.

Rhythm of threat followed by mysterious restraint anticipates later covenantal tones.