Genesis 4:7, One of the Hardest Verses -- Is it a Warning of Evil, or a Promise of Good?

Genesis 4:7 is complex and confusing. Who is what to whom? The King James Version is not very clear: "If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him." Sin lies at the door - what door? and unto you is his desire - sounds good; but you are to rule over him - not so good. Clear as mud.

The New King James clears this up...not! "If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it." Bullinger helps, suggesting sin = sin offering. "At the entrance [a male] is lying, a sin-offering." So at your door is the lamb who desires - loves - you, but you should use it.

The Amplified Version did not get the message about the word sin meaning sin-offering: "If you do well [believing Me and doing what is acceptable and pleasing to Me], will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well [but ignore My instruction], sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you [to overpower you], but you must master it." Oh! That evil, overpowering lamb!

Let's try the Aramaic in plain English: "Behold, if you do right, I accept it, and if you will not do right, sin lies in wait before the door; you are going to be converted to it and it will have authority over you." There is that door again, with sin gonna get you. Scary.

"You shall rule over him...you should rule over it...you should use it...you must master it...it will have authority over you. Right, got it, sort of, a little bit, uh, no. Which is it?

Let's try Victor Alexander's translation from the ancient Aramaic: "Behold, if you glorify me, you shall be accepted, and if you do not, your evil lord* (lit. Aramaic word: rabishu, or 'lord of evil,') awaits you at the gate of sin; you will turn to him and he shall have authority over you." Somehow, it seems if Vic Alexander is correct, if Cain does not glorify God, his ignorance (Satan) will lead him to worse sin (Romans 5:12 - because of being spiritually dead, man sins) and will exercise control over him.

I would like to think that the "lord of evil" is the lord OVER evil, the Beginning (Genesis 1:1) who flipped from the Consciousness of the Ineffable into existence in ignorance in this dimension, becoming everything there is. He awaits our waking and becoming aware of Him at the door of our consciousness, as in "Behold, I stand at the door and knock..." He is our sin-offering. Eventually we all will turn to Him, and in our submission to Him we recognize His authority over us. This is a romantic notion -- the verse does not appear to actually say it, yet we can make it so.