Abel a shepherd, Cain a tiller
Read the full text in our reader
καὶ προσέθηκεν τεκεῖν τὸν ἀδελφὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν Ἄβελ. Καὶ ἐγένετο Ἄβελ ποιμὴν προβάτων· Κάιν δὲ ἦν ἐργαζόμενος τὴν γῆν.
προσέθηκεν τεκεῖν, literally "she added to bear," is another Hebraism (the Hebrew verbal idiom "to add + infinitive" for "to do again") that the LXX carries straight across into Greek rather than smoothing into ordinary idiom. The brothers' occupations are stated without comment — but the shepherd's offering will be received and the tiller's refused, the first of the Bible's many reversals of the expected elder/firstborn privilege (Cain is the firstborn).
Open The Septuagint 4.2 in the full reader
Always open passages in the reader
You are reading a page of the The Septuagint — the whole book is free in our interlinear reader.
The Great Library Project presses the classics in their original languages, glossed word by word — free to read, always. Browse the whole library.
Also on our shelves:
The Septuagint 4.2 — The Great Library Project interlinear edition · greatlibraryproject.com/book/septuagint/4.2/