Gen 4:6–7: "lifting up", and sin crouching at the door

Says After נָפְלוּ פָנֶיךָ, "your face has fallen," comes הֲלוֹא אִם־תֵּיטִיב שְׂאֵת: "if you do well, is there not lifting up?" The last is one word (BSB "will you not be accepted"; cf. מִנְּשֹׂא, 4:13). וְאִם לֹא תֵיטִיב, "and if you do not do well," לַפֶּתַח חַטָּאת רֹבֵץ, "at the door sin is crouching" (BDB "stretch oneself out, lie down"; Gen 49:9 has רָבַץ of the lion). חַטָּאת is feminine, but רֹבֵץ and the suffixes of תְּשׁוּקָתוֹ and בּוֹ are masculine (OSHB). וְאֵלֶיךָ תְּשׁוּקָתוֹ וְאַתָּה תִּמְשָׁל־בּוֹ has the noun and verb of 3:16 in the same order, with sin as the one who desires: a similar sequence, not the same wording (xref.Gen.3.16.Gen.4.7.heb; note.language.Gen.3.16.teshuqah-mashal). תִּמְשָׁל is an imperfect (BSB "you must master it"). Swete reads otherwise; see note.textual.Gen.4.1-Gen.4.26.minor-variants.

Uncertain שְׂאֵת: (1) acceptance (BSB); (2) the lifting of the fallen face (4:5–6); (3) bearing, that is forgiving (4:13); (4) rank, as in 49:3, יֶתֶר שְׂאֵת ("excelling in honor"). No lean is taken here.

Uncertain The crouching: (1) sin pictured as a beast at the door, the participle used as a noun, "a croucher"; objection: the suffixes still need a masculine. (2) A sin offering lying at the door; objection: the clauses of desire and mastery. (3) The suffixes refer to Abel, the younger brother under Cain's rule; objection: the flow from "sin." No lean is taken here.

Uncertain Whether the last clause is a command, a promise or a question; the imperfect allows each. No lean is taken here.