The NIV Study Bible

genesis chapter iv

4:1 Adam lay[a] with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain[b]. She said, "With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man."

4:2 Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked with the soil.

4:3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord.

4:4 But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering,

4:5 but on Cain and his offering, He did not look with favor. So, Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

4:6 Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast?

4:7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it."

4:8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

4:9 Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"

"I don't know," he replied. "Am I my brother's keeper?"

4:10 The Lord said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.

4:11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.

4:12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. you will be a restless wanderer on the earth."

14:3 Cain said to the Lord, "My punishment is more than I can bear.

4:14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."

4:15 But the Lord said to him, "Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.

4:16 So Cain went out from the Lord's presence and lived in the land of Nod[c], east of Eden.

4:17 Cain lay[d] with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch.

4:18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.

4:19 Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah.

4:20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock.

4:21 His brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the harp and flute.

4:22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain's sister was Naamah.

4:23 Lamech said to his wives,

"Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
a young man for injuring me.

4:24 If Cain is avenged seven times,
then Lamech seventy-seven times."

4:25 Adam lay with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth[d], saying, "God has granted me another child in place of Abel since Cain killed him." Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.

At that time men began to call[e] the name of the Lord.

Footnotes

[a] or had intercourse

[b] Cain sounds like the Hebrew word for brought

[c] Nod means wandering

[d] Seth probably means granted

[e] or to proclaim

Other Notes

verse 1 — With the help of the Lord. Eve acknowledged that God is the ultimate source of life

verse 2 — Abel. The name means "breath" or "temporary" and hints at the shortness of Abel's life

verse 3 to 4 — Cain brought some of the fruits... but Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The contrast is not between an offering of plant life and an offering of animal life, but between a careless, thoughtless offering and a choice, generous offering. Motivation and heart attitude is all-important, and God looked with favor on Abel and his offering because of Abel's faith.

verse 7 — sin is crouching at your door. The Hebrew word for "crouching" is the same as an ancient Babylonian word referring to an evil demon crouching at the door of a building to threaten the people inside. Sin may thus be pictured here as just such a demon, waiting to pounce on Cain. He may already have been plotting his brother's murder.

verse 8 — attacked his brother... and killed him. The first murder was especially monstrous because it was committed with deliberate deceit ("Let's go out to the field"), against a brother, and against a good man — a striking illustration of the awful consequences of the fall.

verse 9 — I don't know. An outright lie.

Am I my brother's keeper? Demonstrating callous indifference — all too common throughout the whole course of human history.

verse 11 — curse. The ground had been cursed because of human sin (3:17), and now Cain himself is cursed. Formerly he had worked the ground, and it had produced life for him. Now the ground, soaked with his brother's blood, would no longer yield its produce for him.

verse 13 — My punishment is more than I can bear. Confronted with his crime and its resulting curse, Cain responded not with remorse but with self-pity. His sin was virtually uninterrupted: impiety, anger, jealousy, deception and murder, falsehood, and self-seeking. The final result was alienation from God himself.

verse 16 — Nod. Location unknown.

verse 17 — city. The Hebrew word can refer to any permanent settlement, however small. Cain tried to redeem himself from his wandering and vulnerable state by the activity of his own hands — in the lands of wandering he builds a city.

verse 19 — married two women. Polygamy entered history. Haughty Lamech, the seventh from Adam in the line of Cain, perhaps sought to attain the benefits of God's primeval blessing (see 1:28) by his own device — multiplying his wives. Monogamy, however, was the original divine intention (see 2:23 and 2:24)

verse 23 — killed a man for wounding me. Violent and wanton destruction of human life by one who proclaimed his complete independence from God by taking vengeance with his own hands. Lamech proudly claimed to be master of his own destiny, thinking that he and his sons, by their own achievements, would redeem themselves from the curse on the line of Cain. This titanic claim climaxes the catalog of sins that began with Cain's unworthy offering and the murder of his brother.

verse 26 — Enosh. The name, like "Adam", means "man" or "humankind".

began to call on the name of the Lord. Lamech's proud self-reliance, so characteristic of the line of Cain, is contrasted with dependence on God found in the line of Seth.