What Does Genesis 4:4 Mean in the King James?
And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The LORD’s “respect” is a gaze, and it settles on Abel before his offering, placing the person before the gift.
THE MEANING
You appear here as a person beside what you bring: the LORD’s gaze turns toward Abel, then toward his offering. Abel’s Hebrew name, Hevel (“vapor”), holds fragility beside the first and richest portions of his flock. The verse keeps giver and gift distinct while holding both within the same act of regard.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that what you bring is the whole of who can be seen: Abel is named as the object of regard before his offering.
THE ROOT
וַיִּשַׁע
wayyisha‘
GROWS FROM
שעה
sha'ah
to look toward, gaze upon, regard
“respect” in this verse is wayyisha‘. The verb makes regard an act of looking toward. The verse names Abel first, then his offering, so the gaze rests on a person and on what he brings.
ALSO GROWS
wayyisha‘: he looked toward
וַיִּשַׁע
This is the verb used for the LORD’s regard toward Abel and his offering.
yish'eh: he looks toward
יִשְׁעֶה
Isaiah 17:7 uses the same root as a person looks toward his Maker, keeping the sense of regard as directed attention.
הֶבֶל
Hevel
GROWS FROM
הבל
hevel
vapor, mist; something fleeting
The Hebrew name Hevel is the word for vapor, a meaning hidden by the English name Abel. The verse places this image of a passing life beside a tangible gift of first and richest portions.
ALSO GROWS
hevel: vapor, mist
הֶבֶל
This is the word carried in Abel’s Hebrew name, giving the name a sense of transience.
hevalim: vapors; by extension, fleeting vanities
הֲבָלִים
Ecclesiastes uses this plural for what passes like vapor, extending the same root’s image of impermanence.
בְּכֹרוֹת
bekhorot
GROWS FROM
בכר
bakhar
to be first, be firstborn, bring forth first
“firstlings” in this verse is bekhorot. This root links firstborn status with first yield. Here the gift is marked as what comes first, and the mention of its fat adds the flock’s rich portion to that priority.
ALSO GROWS
bekhor: firstborn
בְּכוֹר
The word names the one who comes first in birth order, showing that the root carries priority into family language.
bikkurim: firstfruits, the first yield
בִּכּוּרִים
The same root names the harvest’s first produce, extending “first” from birth to what the land brings forth.
THE PATTERN
The first portion is treated as carrying the meaning of the whole harvest, making priority visible in what is brought first.
The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.THE THREAD
But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.The same root שעה (sha’ah, “look toward”) appears here in the negative: the LORD does not turn that gaze toward Cain and his offering. The contrast makes the gaze in verse 4 concrete, while Cain’s fallen countenance brings looking into the scene from another direction.
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