3Soothly it was done after many days, that Cain offered gifts to the Lord of the fruits of the earth#4:3 Not the first fruits, or the best, or it would have been so stated.;

4and Abel offered of the first engendered of his flock, and of the fatness of those [or them]. And the Lord beheld to Abel and to the gifts of him;

5soothly he beheld not to Cain and to his gifts. And Cain was wroth greatly, and his cheer felled down.

6And the Lord said to him, Why art thou wroth, and why felled down thy face?

7Whether not if thou shalt do well, thou shalt receive well; but if thou doest evil, thy sin shall be present anon in the gates? but the desire thereof, that is, of sin, shall be under thee, and thou shalt be lord thereof.

8And Cain said to Abel, his brother, Go we out. And when they were in the field, Cain rose against his brother Abel, and killed him.

9And the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? Which answered, I know not; whether I am the keeper of my brother?

10And God said to Cain, What hast thou done? the voice of the blood of thy brother crieth to me from [the] earth.

11Now therefore thou shalt be cursed on [the] earth, that opened his mouth, and received of thine hand the blood of thy brother.

12When thou shalt work the earth, it shall not give his fruits to thee; thou shalt be unstable of dwelling, and fleeing about on [the] earth, in all the days of thy life.

13And Cain said to the Lord, My wickedness is more than that I deserve forgiveness;

14lo! today thou castest me out from the face of the earth; and I shall be hid from thy face, and I shall be unstable of dwelling, and fleeing about in earth; therefore each man that shall find me shall slay me.

15And the Lord said to him, It shall not be done so, but each man that shall slay Cain shall be punished sevenfold. And the Lord set a sign in Cain, that each man that should find him should not slay him.

16And Cain went out from the face of the Lord, and dwelled fleeing about in [the] earth, at the east coast of Eden, that is, of earthly paradise.

17Forsooth Cain knew his wife, which conceived, and childed Enoch; and Cain builded a city, and called the name thereof of the name of his son, Enoch.

18Forsooth Enoch begat Irad; and Irad begat Mehujael; and Mehujael begat Methusael; and Methusael begat Lamech;

19that took two wives, the name to the one wife was Adah, and the name to the other was Zillah.

20And Adah begat Jabal, that was the father of dwellers in tents, and of shepherds;

21and the name of his brother was Jubal; he was the father of the singers in harp and organ.

22And Zillah begat Tubalcain, that was an hammer-beater, and [a] smith on all works of brass and of iron; forsooth the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.

23And Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, Ye wives of Lamech, hear my voice, and hearken to my words; for I have slain a man by my wounding, and a young waxing man by my violent beating;

24vengeance shall be given seven-fold of Cain, forsooth of Lamech seventy times seven times.

25Also yet Adam knew his wife, and she childed a son, and called his name Seth#4:25 The name sounds like the Hebrew for ‘has given’., and said, God hath put [or set] to me another seed for Abel, whom Cain killed.

26But also a son was born to Seth, which son he called Enos; this began to call inwardly the name of the Lord.

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Genesis 4

1Adam slept with his wife Eve and she became pregnant. She gave birth to Cain, and said, “With the Lord's help I have made a man.” 2Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Abel became a shepherd, while Cain was a crop farmer.

3Sometime later Cain brought some of the produce he'd grown as an offering to the Lord. 4Abel also brought an offering: the firstborn lambs of his flock, selecting the very best parts to offer. The Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering, 5but he wasn't pleased with Cain and his offering, which made Cain very angry and he frowned in annoyance.

6The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you so angry? Why do you look so annoyed? 7If you were doing what's right, then you'd be looking happy.#4:7. “Looking happy”: literally, “lifted up.” In the previous verse, the literal meaning is that Cain's “face fell.” So the opposite would be for his face to be “lifted up,” in other words, he would look happy. But if you don't do what's right, then sin will be like an animal crouching outside your home, ready to pounce on you. It wants to have you, but you must be the one in control.”

8Later, when Cain was talking with his brother Abel#4:8. The Septuagint and some other ancient versions add here, “Let's go out into the fields.” The way the sentence is structured in the Hebrew does suggest some words are missing. they went out into the fields where Cain attacked his brother and killed him.

9“Where is your brother Abel?” the Lord asked Cain.

“How should I know?” he replied. “Am I supposed to be my brother's care-giver?”

10“What have you done?” the Lord asked. “Your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground. 11Consequently you are more cursed than the ground because you soaked it with your brother's blood. 12When you cultivate the ground, it won't produce crops for you. You'll be always on the run, wandering all over the earth.”

13“My punishment is more than I can take,” Cain replied. 14“Look! You're driving me away right now—cursing the ground and banishing me from your presence. I'm going to have to hide and always be on the run, left to wander all over the earth. Anyone who finds me is going to kill me!”

15But the Lord replied, “No, Cain. Anyone who kills you will be punished seven times over.” The Lord placed a mark on Cain so that no one who came across him would kill him.

16So Cain left the Lord's presence and went to live in a land called Nod, east of Eden.#4:16. “Nod” means “wandering.”

17Cain slept with his wife and she became pregnant. She had a son named Enoch. At that time Cain was building a town, so he named it after his son Enoch. 18Enoch had a son named Irad. Irad was the father of Mehujael, Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech. 19Lamech married two women. The first was named Adah, and the second was named Zillah. 20Adah had a son named Jabal. He was the father#4:20. “Father” can also mean “ancestor.” of those who live in tents and have livestock. 21He had a brother named Jubal; he was the father of all those who play stringed and wind instruments. 22Zillah also had a son. He was named Tubal-cain and he was a blacksmith, making different kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-cain's sister was named Naamah.

23At one time Lamech told his wives, “Adah and Zillah, listen to me. You wives of Lamech, pay attention to what I have to say. I killed a man because he wounded me; I killed a young man because he injured me. 24If the sentence for killing Cain was to be punished seven times over, then if someone kills me, Lamech, the punishment should be seventy-seven times.”

25Adam slept with his wife again, and she had a son and named him Seth,#4:25. “Seth,” meaning “substitute,” or “given.” explaining that, “God has given me another child to replace Abel, the one Cain killed.” 26Later Seth had a son named Enosh,#4:26. “Enosh,” meaning “mankind” or “people.” because at that time people began to worship the Lord by name.

Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com

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Genesis 4

Genesis 4