Genesis 4:8 — the words Cain never says
Cain may say נלכה השדה in reading A, or reading B may report that he spoke without giving the words. The witnesses divide over the missing speech before the field.
What the APB prints.
Every witness, on the record.
What a blind committee did here.
The APB's translation committee works blind: it is never told it is translating the Bible, never given a book name or a verse number, and it never sees the witnesses above. Whatever it did at this verse, it did on the language alone — and its record is public.
The blind committee’s pericope audit verdict is 'clean,' and no rationale note matches this crux. At Genesis 4:8, the APB prints "Cain spoke to his brother Abel." It then prints the field and killing without supplying an invitation.
The case for each reading.
If the words belong
Reading A accounts for the unfinished speech by treating its missing words as a sentence preserved in several ancient witnesses. SP supplies נלכה השדה in Hebrew. LXX gives Διέλθωμεν εἰς τὸ πεδίον, and Vg gives egrediamur foras. Each supplies an invitation to go out before the scene moves to the field. On this account, the speech verb is followed by content rather than left hanging, and the field setting follows the proposed movement. The agreement is across an independent Hebrew tradition and two translations, though their supplied wording is not identical.
If the silence is original
Reading B follows the MT, whose Hebrew text reads ויאמר קין אל הבל אחיו and then moves to ויהי בהיותם בשדה. Its own witness note says that the speech verb has no speech after it and that the narrative jumps straight to the field. On this account, the lack of stated words is part of the wording to be read, rather than an omission to be filled. The abrupt transition leaves Cain’s address without recorded content, while retaining the movement from speech to the field scene.
Uncertainty remains over whether the missing sentence belonged after ויאמר or was supplied to make the speech complete. The witnesses preserve both possibilities. What is at stake is the presence of Cain’s invitation before the field scene, not whether the APB verse narrates Cain’s killing of Abel in the field. This single variation does not decide a doctrine; doctrines rest on many passages.
Asked plainly.
What does the Masoretic Text say in Genesis 4:8?
MT reads ויאמר קין אל הבל אחיו and then moves to the field scene. Its witness note says the speech verb has no speech after it.
Which witnesses give Cain words to say to Abel?
SP supplies נלכה השדה, LXX supplies Διέλθωμεν εἰς τὸ πεδίον, and Vg supplies egrediamur foras.
Does this variant change what happens in the verse?
It changes whether an invitation is recorded before the field scene. The APB verse still narrates Cain killing Abel in the field.
More places where the manuscripts argue.
Witness readings for critical editions are quoted from the SBLGNT apparatus (CC BY 4.0); Hebrew text from the Westminster Leningrad Codex (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible). Readings of ancient manuscripts and versions are cited as published scholarly fact with their sources linked above. Nothing on this page declares a winner — the evidence is the point.
Weigh it yourself.
The registry doesn't tell you which reading is true. It puts every witness on one page, shows what a blind committee did with the same language, and leaves the verdict where it belongs — with the reader.