The First Family

4 ·Adam [^LThe man; 1:27] ·had sexual relations with [^Lknew] his wife Eve, and she ·became pregnant [conceived] and gave birth to Cain. Eve said, “With the Lord’s help, I have ·given birth to [^Lproduced; or acquired; ^Cthe verb resembles Cain’s name] a man.” ² After that, Eve gave birth to Cain’s brother Abel [^Cresembles the word for vapor or breath]. Abel took care of flocks, and Cain ·became a farmer [^Lwas a tiller/worker of the ground].

³ ·Later [In due course; ^LAt the end of the days], Cain brought some ·food [produce; fruit] from the ground as a ·gift [tribute; Lev. 2] to God. ⁴ Abel brought the ·best parts [fat portions; Lev. 3:16] from some of the firstborn of his flock [Heb. 11:4]. The Lord ·accepted [looked with favor on] Abel and his ·gift [tribute], ⁵ but he did not ·accept [look with favor on] Cain and his ·gift [tribute]. So Cain became very angry and ·felt rejected [or felt dejected; ^Lhis face/countenance fell].

⁶ The Lord asked Cain, “Why are you angry? Why ·do you look so unhappy [^Lhas your face/countenance fallen; 4:5]? ⁷ If you do things ·well [correctly; appropriately], ·I will [^Lwill I not…?] accept you, but if you do not do them ·well [correctly; appropriately], sin is ·ready to attack you [^Lcrouching at the door]. Sin ·wants [desires to control; 3:16] you, but you must rule over it.”

⁸ Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out into the field.”^[a] While they were out in the field, Cain ·attacked [^Lrose up against] his brother Abel and killed him [Matt. 23:35; Luke 11:51; Heb. 12:24; 1 John 3:11–12; Jude 11].

⁹ Later, the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

Cain answered, “I don’t know. ·Is it my job to take care of my brother [^TAm I my brother’s keeper]?”

¹⁰ Then the Lord said, “What have you done? Your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground. ¹¹ And now you will be cursed ·in your work with [^Land banished from] the ground, ·the same ground where your brother’s blood fell and where your hands killed him [^Lwhich has opened its mouth to take the blood of your brother from your hand]. ¹² You will ·work [till] the ground, but it will not ·grow good crops [^Lyield its strength] for you anymore, and you will ·wander around [be a fugitive and a wanderer/homeless wanderer] on the earth.”

¹³ Then Cain said to the Lord, “This punishment is more than I can ·stand [bear]! ¹⁴ Today you have forced me ·to stop working [^Lfrom] the ground, and now I ·must hide from you [or will be hidden from your face]. I ·must wander around [^Lwill be a fugitive and wanderer/homeless wanderer] on the earth, and anyone who ·meets [finds] me can kill me.”

¹⁵ The Lord said to Cain, “No! If anyone kills you, I will ·punish [avenge] that person seven times more.” Then the Lord put a mark [^Cthe nature of the mark is uncertain] on Cain warning anyone who ·met [finds] him not to kill him.

Cain’s Family

¹⁶ So Cain went away from the Lord and lived in the land of Nod [^Cresembles a Hebrew word meaning “wanderer”], east of Eden. ¹⁷ He ·had sexual relations with [^Lknew; 4:1] his wife, and she ·became pregnant [conceived] and gave birth to Enoch. At that time ·Cain [^Lhe] was building a city, which he named after his son Enoch. ¹⁸ ·Enoch had a son named [^LTo Enoch was born; ^Cand so through the rest of the genealogy] Irad, Irad had a son named Mehujael, Mehujael had a son named Methushael, and Methushael had a son named Lamech.

¹⁹ Lamech ·married [^Ltook] two ·women [or wives], [^Lthe name of the first was] Adah and [^Lthe name of the second was] Zillah. ²⁰ Adah gave birth to Jabal, who ·became the first person to [^Lwas the father of those who] live in tents and raise ·cattle [livestock]. ²¹ Jabal’s brother was Jubal, the ·first person to [^Lfather of all who] play the ·harp [or lyre] and ·flute [pipe]. ²² Zillah gave birth to Tubal-Cain, who made tools out of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.

²³ Lamech said to his wives:

Adam and Eve Have a New Son

²⁵ Adam ·had sexual relations with [^Lknew; 4:1] his wife Eve again, and she gave birth to a son. She named him Seth [^Crelated to the Hebrew word for “give” or “appoint”] and said, “God has ·given [appointed for] me another child. He will take the place of Abel, who was killed by Cain.” ²⁶ Seth also had a son, and they named him Enosh. At that time people began to ·pray to [^Lcall on the name of] the Lord.