What Does Genesis 4:5 Mean in the King James?
But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
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
A fallen face is the body making an inward rupture visible.
THE MEANING
When what you bring receives no regard, anger can rise and your face can fall; the verse places inward heat beside an outward change. What happens within you has a visible shape.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that an unreceived offering leaves its bearer untouched: Cain’s anger and fallen face show that he is affected too.
THE ROOT
וַיִּפְּלוּ
wayyippəlū
GROWS FROM
נפל
to fall, drop, or descend
“fell” in this verse is wayyippəlū. The verb comes from נפל (n-f-l), the root for falling. The text gives Cain’s face the motion of a fall, making his inner state visible rather than leaving it as an unnamed feeling.
ALSO GROWS
nōfēl: falling; one who falls
נֹפֵל
This participle from נפל preserves the image of a person or thing in the act of falling, as Cain’s face is described here.
nefilah: a fall
נְפִילָה
This noun from נפל names the act itself, showing how the verse’s verb-image can also describe a whole event of falling.
THE PATTERN
What takes hold within becomes visible through the body.
And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.THE THREAD
And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?The same verb root נפל (n-f-l), meaning to fall, appears in the description of Cain’s fallen countenance. The next verse makes that visible collapse the subject of a direct question.
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