The history of Cain and Abel.

¹ Truly, Adam knew his wife Eve, who conceived and gave birth to Cain, saying, “I have obtained a man through God.”

² And again she gave birth to his brother Abel. But Abel was a pastor of sheep, and Cain was a farmer.

³ Then it happened, after many days, that Cain offered gifts to the Lord, from the fruits of the earth.

⁴ Abel likewise offered from the firstborn of his flock, and from their fat. And the Lord looked with favor on Abel and his gifts.¹

1. 4:4Had respect: That is, showed his acceptance of his sacrifice (as coming from a heart full of devotion): and that, as we may suppose, by some visible token, such as sending fire from heaven upon his offerings.(Challoner)

⁵ Yet in truth, he did not look with favor on Cain and his gifts. And Cain was vehemently angry, and his countenance fell.

⁶ And the Lord said to him: “Why are you angry? And why is your face fallen?

⁷ If you behave well, will you not receive? But if you behave badly, will not sin at once be present at the door? And so its desire will be within you, and you will be dominated by it.”¹

1. 4:7The word ‘dominaberis’ is future passive tense, but the Challoner revision translates it as if it were future active. The context makes it clear that Cain is in danger of being dominated by sin, not the other way around.(Conte)

⁸ And Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go outside.” And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and he put him to death.

⁹ And the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” And he responded: “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁰ And he said to him: “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the land.

¹¹ Now, therefore, you will be cursed upon the land, which opened its mouth and received the blood of your brother at your hand.

¹² When you work it, it will not give you its fruit; a vagrant and a fugitive shall you be upon the land.”

¹³ And Cain said to the Lord: “My iniquity is too great to deserve kindness.

¹⁴ Behold, you have cast me out this day before the face of the earth, and from your face I will be hidden; and I will be a vagrant and a fugitive on the earth. Therefore, anyone who finds me will kill me.”¹

1. 4:14Every one that finds me shall kill me: His guilty conscience made him fear his own brothers and nephews; of whom, by this time, there might be a good number upon the earth; which had now endured near 130 years; as may be gathered from Gen. 5.3, compared with chap. 4.25, though in the compendious account given in the scriptures, only Cain and Abel are mentioned.(Challoner)

¹⁵ And the Lord said to him: “By no means will it be so; rather, whoever would kill Cain, will be punished sevenfold.” And the Lord placed a seal upon Cain, so that anyone who found him would not put him to death.¹

1. 4:15Set a mark, etc: The more common opinion of the interpreters of holy writ supposes this mark to have been a trembling of the body; or a horror and consternation in his countenance.(Challoner)

¹⁶ And so Cain, departing from the face of the Lord, lived as a fugitive on the earth, toward the eastern region of Eden.

¹⁷ Then Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. And he built a city, and he called its name by the name of his son, Enoch.¹²

1. 4:17His wife: She was a daughter of Adam, and Cain’s own sister; God dispensing with such marriages in the beginning of the world, as mankind could not otherwise be propagated.(Challoner)
2. 4:17He built a city: In process of time, when his race was multiplied, so as to be numerous enough to people it. For in the many hundred years he lived, his race might be multiplied even to millions.(Challoner)

¹⁸ Thereafter, Enoch conceived Irad, and Irad conceived Mahujael, and Mahujael conceived Mathusael, and Mathusael conceived Lamech.

¹⁹ Lamech took two wives: the name of one was Adah, and the name of the other was Zillah.

²⁰ And Adah conceived Jabel, who was the father of those who live in tents and are shepherds.¹

1. 4:20The word ‘atque’ implies that these persons both lived in tents and were shepherds.(Conte)

²¹ And the name of his brother was Jubal; he was the father of those who sing to the harp and the organ.¹

1. 4:21The words ‘cithara et organo’ are dative, not accusative; so the translation is ‘sing to harp and organ,’ not ‘play the harp and organ.’(Conte)

²² Zillah also conceived Tubalcain, who was a hammerer and artisan in every work of brass and iron. In fact, the sister of Tubalcain was Noema.

²³ And Lamech said to his wives Adah and Zillah: “Listen to my voice, you wives of Lamech, pay attention to my speech. For I have killed a man to my own harm, and an adolescent to my own bruising.¹

1. 4:23I have slain a man, etc: It is the tradition of the Hebrews, that Lamech in hunting slew Cain, mistaking him for a wild beast; and that having discovered what he had done, he beat so unmercifully the youth, by whom he was led into that mistake, that he died of the blows.(Challoner)

²⁴ Sevenfold vengeance will be given for Cain, but for Lamech, seventy-seven times.”¹

1. 4:24The phrase ‘septuagies septies’ can mean ‘seventy-seven times,’ (77) or ‘seventy times seven times’ (490). There are 77 generations from Adam to Jesus Christ.(Conte)

²⁵ Adam also knew his wife again, and she gave birth to a son, and she called his name Seth, saying, “God has given me another offspring, in place of Abel, whom Cain killed.”

²⁶ But to Seth also was born a son, whom he called Enos. This one began to invoke the name of the Lord.¹

1. 4:26Began to call upon, etc: Not that Adam and Seth had not called upon God, before the birth of Enos; but that Enos used more solemnity in the worship and invocation of God.(Challoner)