the tree of knowledge in Gen 2 . 23 In eating the fruit of the tree , Adam and Eve became aware of their nakedness and sinfulness ( Gen 3:7 ). In the Masoretic text , this awareness is communicated using a variant of ִֵֶּ֣ו ֵֹּ֣֣ת ווָּ֑ ילִ֖ ו ֹּ יִ֥ו יֶ ֵּ֣ ב הו ־י ־ האתֵּ֣ו ־ הֶו ( ־ווֶ ִ֖י ). The use of ־ווֶ ִ֖י in Gen 4 to refer to the act of procreation could thus be seen as knowing the good in the same way that knowing nakedness led to the awareness of sinfulness . 24
Gen 4:1b is considered difficult to translate and has historically presented translators and interpreters with a particular challenge . 25 The challenge comes in understanding the context and meaning of Eve ’ s exclamation upon the birth of Cain : ‘ I have acquired a man with the Lord .’ The Hebrew phrase ־ ייתִ֥ו יָֽו י ׃ ִ֖ וא ה ׃ ָֽ הוֶ ־ יתֶ can be interpreted in several ways as each word poses a challenge to how the phrase should be translated . 26 Collins outlines the issue as follows :
Each word here involves us in semantic and syntactical questions , as well as larger literary and theological ones . ( 1 ) What is the sense of ־ ייתִ֥ו יָֽו ( qanâ ) here : ‘ get ,’ ‘ beget ,’ or ‘ create ’? ( 2 ) What is the nuance of י ׃ ִ֖ וא (’ îsh , ‘ man ’) here : ‘ man child ,’ ‘ mature man ,’ or ‘ husband ’? ( 3 ) What is the syntactical relationship of ־ יתֶ ה ׃ ָֽ הוֶ (’ et-yhwh ) to the rest of the sentence : that is , is the particle ַ ׃ used as the preposition ‘ with ,’ and if so , in what sense ? Or is ַ ׃ the marker of the direct object , which would make ‘ the LORD ’ appositional to ‘ a man ’: ‘ I have gotten a man , namely , the LORD ’? 27
Many commentators point out that ־ ייתִ֥ו יָֽו represents a play on words with Cain ’ s name in Hebrew ( ֶיי יוא ) as there an assonance between the words . 28 Matthews argues that in this instance is translated in the ־ ייתִ֥ו יָֽו should not be translated as ‘ created ’ as in other instances where ־ ייתִ֥ו יָֽו sense of creation , God is always the subject of the verb . 29 In ־ ייתִ֥ו יָֽ Psalm 139:13 has been
23 Ibid ; cf . Umberto Cassuto , A Commentary on the Book of Genesis , Kindle edition , ( Slokie , IL : Varda
Books , 2012 ), 180 . 24 K . A . Mathews , Genesis 1-11 , Kindle edition , 264 .
25 E . A Speiser , Genesis ( Garden City , NY : Doubleday , 1964 ). 26 C . John Collins , Genesis 1-4 , Kindle edition , Kindle location 2182 . 27 Ibid , Kindle location 2182-2185 . 28 Cf . David W Cotter , Genesis , 41 ; K . A . Mathews , Genesis 1-11 , Kindle edition , 264 ; S McKnight ,
“ Cain ,” in Dictionary of the Old Testament : Pentateuch , edited by T . Desmond Alexander and David W . Baker ,
( Downers Grove , IL : InterVarsity Press , 2003 ), 107-108 . 29 K . A . Mathews , Genesis 1-11 , Kindle edition , 264-265 .