Genesis 4
4
Cain and Abel
1Now Adam knew#Or “had intercourse with” Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain. And she said, “I have given birth to a man with the help of Yahweh.” 2Then she bore#Literally “And she added to bear” his brother Abel. And Abel became a keeper of sheep, and Cain became a tiller of the ground. 3And in the course of time#Literally “it came to pass at the end of days” Cain brought an offering from the fruit of the ground to Yahweh, 4and Abel also brought an offering from the choicest firstlings of his flock.#Literally “from the firstlings of his flock and from their fat” And Yahweh looked with favor to Abel and to his offering, 5but to Cain and to his offering he did not look with favor. And Cain became very angry, and his face fell. 6And Yahweh said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why is your face fallen? 7If you do well will I not accept you?#Literally “a lifting up”; this is an abbreviation of the Hebrew idiom “to lift up the face,” which means “to accept or regard with favor” But if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. And its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”
8Then#Or “And” Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out into the field.”#This phrase is not present in the Hebrew; it is supplied in other versions Samaritan, Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. 9Then#Or “And” Yahweh said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” 10And he said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground. 11So now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive the blood of your brother from your hand. 12When you till the ground it shall no longer yield its strength to you.#Literally “it shall not add to give its strength to you” You shall be a wanderer and a fugitive on the earth.” 13And Cain said to Yahweh, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14Look, you have driven me out today from the face of the ground, and from your face I must hide. I will be a wanderer and a fugitive on the earth, and it will happen that whoever finds me will kill me.” 15Then#Or “And” Yahweh said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain will be avenged sevenfold.” Then#Or “And” Yahweh put a sign on Cain so that whoever found him would not kill him. 16And Cain went out from the presence of Yahweh, and he settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
17And Cain knew#Or “had intercourse with” his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. And when he built a city he named the city after his son, Enoch.#Literally “he called the name of the city as the name of his son, Enoch” 18And to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech. 19And Lamech took to himself two wives.#Or “women” The name of the first was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah. 20And Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and those who have livestock. 21And the name of his brother was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and wind instruments. 22Then#Or “And” Zillah also gave birth to Tubal-Cain who forged all kinds of tools of bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.
23Then#Or “And” Lamech said to his wives,
“Adah and Zillah, listen to my voice;
O wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
Even a young man for injuring me.
24If Cain is avenged sevenfold,
Then Lamech will be avenged seventy and seven times.
25Then#Or “And” Adam knew#Or “had intercourse with” his wife again, and she gave birth to a son. And she called his name Seth, for she said “God has appointed to me another child in the place of Abel, because Cain killed him.” 26And as for Seth, he also fathered a son, and he called his name Enosh. At that time he#Or “humankind,” if the 3ms form is considered collective began to call on the name of Yahweh.
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Genesis 4: LEB
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Genesis 4
4
Cain and Abel gave things to God
1Adam and Eve slept together, like a man does with his wife, and then Eve had a baby boy. Eve said, “God has helped me make another human.” So she gave him the name Cain. That name means make. 2After that, they had another son, and she gave him the name Abel.
Abel grew up, and he looked after sheep and goats all the time. Cain grew up, and he became a gardener. He dug the ground and grew plants for people to eat.
3One day, Cain brought a gift to give to God. He brought some food from his garden. 4And Abel brought a gift to give to God too. He gave God some of his young sheep and goats. They were the first ones born to their mothers. Abel brought the best bits of meat from those sheep and goats. And God was happy with Abel, and with his gift.#Hebrews 11:4 5But God was not happy with Cain, or with his gift. Then Cain got very angry. His face changed, and he looked very sad.
6God said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why do you look sad? 7If you do the right thing, I will be happy with you. But, if you don’t do the right thing, look out, you will always want to do more bad things. But you have to control yourself and stop doing bad things.”
8After that, Cain went to his brother, Abel, and said, “Let’s go for a walk.” So Cain and Abel went out bush together. While they were there, Cain hit his brother, and killed him dead.#Matthew 23:35; Luke 11:51; 1 John 3:12
9Later, God said to Cain, “Where is your brother, Abel?”
Cain said, “I don’t know where my brother is. It’s not my job to look after him.”
10God said to Cain, “You did a really bad thing. Your brother’s blood is on the ground. It’s like his blood is calling out to me. It is telling me you killed him.#Hebrews 12:24 11So now I’m going to curse you. You killed your brother, and his blood is on the ground. So I will make the ground bad for you. 12If you try to grow plants in the ground, nothing will grow for you. You will go away from me. And you will walk around in lots of places, but you will not have a home.”
13Cain said to God, “God, you are too hard on me. 14If you make me leave this land where I grow my food, and if you make me go away from you, and if you make me walk around everywhere, so I will not have a home, then somebody will find me and finish me.”
15God said, “I will not let that happen. I’ll tell everybody that if they kill you, then I will punish them 7 times more than I punished you.” So God put a mark on Cain’s head, so that everybody will know that they can’t kill him.
The people born into Cain’s family
16After that, Cain went away from God and went to live in a place called Nod. That country was on the east side of Eden. 17Cain slept with his wife, like married people do together, and then she had a baby boy, called Enok. Cain built a town, and he also called it Enok, after his son. 18Enok grew up, and he had a son, called Irad.
Irad grew up, and he had a son, called Mehujayel.
Mehujayel grew up, and he had a son, called Methushayel.
Methushayel grew up, and he had a son, called Lamek.
19Lamek grew up, and he married 2 women. One wife’s name was Adah, and the other wife’s name was Zillah.
20Lamek’s wife Adah had a baby boy, called Jabal. Jabal grew up and he was the first person to go around with mobs of cows and bulls, just living in a tent, not a house.
21Adah had another son, called Jubal. Jubal grew up and was the first person to play musical instruments. He played a harp and a flute.
22Lamek’s other wife, Zillah, had a son called Tubal Cain. Tubal Cain grew up and made tools from iron and from a brown metal called bronze.
Zillah also had a daughter, called Namah.
23One day, Lamek said to his 2 wives, “Adah and Zillah, listen to me properly. A young man hit me and hurt me, so I killed him dead. 24God said that if anyone killed Cain, he will punish that person 7 times more than he punished Cain. I reckon I’m more important than Cain. So if somebody kills me for killing that young man, I reckon God will punish that person 77 times more than he punished Cain.”#Matthew 18:22
Adam and Eve had another son
25Adam and Eve slept together again, like a man does with his wife, and they had another son, and they gave him the name Seth. That name means gave. Eve said, “God gave me another son to take the place of Abel, our son that Cain killed.”
26Seth grew up, and he had a son too, and he gave him the name Enosh. At that time people started to call God by his special name Yahweh when they showed respect to him.
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