Abstract
“My avon,” Cain says to God, “is more than I can bear” (Genesis 4:13). Disconcertingly, “crime” is as often used in English renderings as is “punishment.” On the basis of a close analysis of the verses about Cain and Abel, I offer a translation that splits the difference between “crime” and “punishment.” Avon turns out to mean something like “transgression.” The Bible’s portrayal of the conflictual interaction between the brothers is the template of its normative position (conveyed in the story by God) about clashes between old ways and new ways. The Bible rejects the Marxist equation of morality with class-success. The verbal form of “transgress” expresses what Cain does to the old modus vivendi; the nominal form applies to his new one. With all its uncertainties, the latter is for that reason challenging to him.
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