Gen 4:1–2: "I have gotten a man"

Says וְהָאָדָם יָדַע, "and the man knew," of marital union (BSB "had relations with"). The noun has the article here and lacks it at 4:25, אָדָם; where the personal name begins is set out in note.language.Gen.2.5-Gen.2.25.adam-ha-adam. Eve names קַיִן and says קָנִיתִי אִישׁ אֶת־יְהוָה. BDB glosses the verb "get, acquire"; אִישׁ is "a man," not "a child." Then הָבֶל is born; Abel is רֹעֵה צֹאן, "a keeper of sheep," and Cain עֹבֵד אֲדָמָה, "a worker of the ground." Swete has Ἐκτησάμην ἄνθρωπον διὰ τοῦ θεοῦ, "I have gotten a man through God."

Uncertain What אֶת־יְהוָה means; no lean is taken here. (1) "With (the help of) the Lord" (BSB "With the help of the Lord"): אֶת as the preposition "with," as the OSHB tags it, and the Greek's "through God." Objection: "the help of" is supplied. (2) "I have gotten a man, the Lord": אֶת as the object marker (BDB "the mark of the accusative"), read as a hope that the seed of 3:15 had come. Objection: the sense it yields. (3) "Alongside the Lord," with the verb as "create," as in 14:19, קֹנֵה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ ("Creator of heaven and earth"). Objection: in 4:25 a son is God's gift.

Implies The narrative draws the name-play itself: Cain is named with Eve's קָנִיתִי.

Uncertain Whether the name Abel, spelled like the noun for "breath, vapor," points to his short life; the text does not say, and no lean is taken here.