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Genesis 4:10
‫ֶאת‬
‫ת‬ ‫ת‬ ‫־‬ ‫׃הו־‬ ֶ ‫ת‬ ‫־‬ ‫א‬ ‫ִ֖ו‬ ֶ‫ת‬ ֵּ֣‫׃‬ ‫וו‬ ‫הי‬ ִ֥ ‫י‬ ֹ֣ ‫ןא‬ ָ‫ו‬ ַ ‫י‬ ‫־‬ ‫׃־‬ ‫ו‬ ‫ת‬ ֵּ֣ ‫י‬ ‫ה‬ ‫את‬ ‫י‬ ‫מ‬ ‫וָֽ־‬ ‫־ת‬ ִ ‫י‬ ֹ֣ ֶ ‫ת‬ ‫ה‬ ‫ו‬ ‫׃תה‬ ‫א‬ ִ֖ ‫י‬ ֶ
And He said, ‘What have you done? The voice of the blood of your brother cries out to
me from the ground.’
The words of God once again hearken back to His questions to Adam and Eve in Gen
3:10-13. His question of ‘what have you done?’ ( ‫וָֽ־‬ ‫־ת‬ ִ ‫י‬ ֹ֣ ֶ ‫)ת‬
to Cain recalls a similar question put
to Eve in Gen 3:13a. 119 With this question, God switches from interrogation to prosecution. 120
Cassuto argues that God’s question is in fact accusatory – “The thought is: See now what you
have done! How could you do so terrible a thing?” 121 Cain’s attempts to eliminate his brother
have failed as God reveals that Abel’s blood cries out from the earth on which it was spilled. 122
The word ‫י‬ ֶֹ֣ ‫ן־‬ is often used in the Old Testament to describe the cries of the oppressed, “the
afflicted in Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 18:13), the overworked and exhausted Israelites in Egypt
(Exod. 3:7), or the afflicted stranger, widow, or orphan (Exod. 22:21–24). Sāʿaq is associated
with the groans of an innocent victim who is brutalized and harassed.” 123
Interestingly, the word ‫ו‬ ‫ת‬ ֵּ֣ ‫י‬ ‫ה‬ is plural, which makes the literal translation “the bloods of
your brother are crying out to me” (emphasis added). 124 This has the effect of conveying multiple
streams of blood arising from a brutal murder. 125 As Wenham observes:
The four Hebrew words [‫ִ֖ו‬ ‫ת‬ ֶ ֵּ֣‫׃‬ ‫וו‬ ‫הי‬ ִ֥ ‫י‬ ֹ֣ ‫ןא‬ ָ‫ו‬ ַ ‫י‬ ‫־‬ ‫׃־‬ ‫ו‬ ‫ת‬ ֵּ֣ ‫]י‬
used hardly require comment. Compressed
into them is a whole theology whose principles inform much of the criminal and cultic
119
Gordon J. Wenham, Genesis 1–15, Volume 1, Word Biblical Commentary, Verbum edition, 107. Gen
3:13a “Then the L ORD God said to the woman, ‘What is this that you have done?’” (RSV). ָֽ‫ו‬ ‫ת‬
‫י‬ ֹ֣ ָֽ‫׃‬ ‫א‬ ‫ז‬ ֶ ֶ‫ת‬ ֶ ִ ִ֖ ‫־‬ ‫־׃‬ ‫י‬ ‫ת‬ ‫וו‬ ִֶ֛
‫׃‬
ִֶ ‫ֶי־‬ ‫וה‬ ‫ו‬ ‫׃תה‬ ‫א‬ ַ ‫י‬ ֶ
120
K. A. Mathews, Genesis 1-11, Kindle edition, 275; Victor P Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters
1-17, Scribd.com edition, 367.
121
Umberto Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Genesis, Kindle edition, 212.
122
Cf. Claus Westermann, A Continental Commentary: Genesis 1–11, Verbum edition, 305.
123
Victor P Hamilton, The Book of Genesis, Chapters 1-17, Scribd.com edition, 367.
124
Umberto Cassuto, A Commentary on the Book of Genesis, Kindle edition, 212.
125
John Byron. “Abel's Blood and the Ongoing Cry for Vengeance,” Catholic Biblical Quarterly 73, no. 4
(October 2011), 743-744.