Discovery BoxGenesis 38:8 
Context38:8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Have sexual relations with 1 your brother’s wife and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her so that you may raise 2 up a descendant for your brother.” 3
Genesis 4:8-9
Context4:8 Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” 4 While they were in the field, Cain attacked 5 his brother 6 Abel and killed him.
4:9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” 7 And he replied, “I don’t know! Am I my brother’s guardian?” 8
1 tn Heb “go to.” The expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
2 tn The imperative with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose.
3 sn Raise up a descendant for your brother. The purpose of this custom, called the levirate system, was to ensure that no line of the family would become extinct. The name of the deceased was to be maintained through this custom of having a child by the nearest relative. See M. Burrows, “Levirate Marriage in Israel,” JBL 59 (1940): 23-33.
4 tc The MT has simply “and Cain said to Abel his brother,” omitting Cain’s words to Abel. It is possible that the elliptical text is original. Perhaps the author uses the technique of aposiopesis, “a sudden silence” to create tension. In the midst of the story the narrator suddenly rushes ahead to what happened in the field. It is more likely that the ancient versions (Samaritan Pentateuch, LXX, Vulgate, and Syriac), which include Cain’s words, “Let’s go out to the field,” preserve the original reading here. After writing אָחִיו (’akhiyv, “his brother”), a scribe’s eye may have jumped to the end of the form בַּשָּׂדֶה (basadeh, “to the field”) and accidentally omitted the quotation. This would be an error of virtual homoioteleuton. In older phases of the Hebrew script the sequence יו (yod-vav) on אָחִיו is graphically similar to the final ה (he) on בַּשָּׂדֶה.
5 tn Heb “arose against” (in a hostile sense).
6 sn The word “brother” appears six times in vv. 8-11, stressing the shocking nature of Cain’s fratricide (see 1 John 3:12).
7 sn Where is Abel your brother? Again the
8 tn Heb “The one guarding my brother [am] I?”
sn Am I my brother’s guardian? Cain lies and then responds with a defiant rhetorical question of his own in which he repudiates any responsibility for his brother. But his question is ironic, for he is responsible for his brother’s fate, especially if he wanted to kill him. See P. A. Riemann, “Am I My Brother’s Keeper?” Int 24 (1970): 482-91.
