Genesis 4
Legacy Standard Bible
Cain and Abel
4 Now the man [a]knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and [b]gave birth to [c]Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a [d]man with the help of Yahweh.” 2 And again, she [e]gave birth to his brother Abel. (A)Abel was (B)a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a cultivator of the ground. 3 So it happened [f]in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to Yahweh of the fruit of the ground. 4 (C)Abel, on his part, also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And (D)Yahweh had regard for Abel and for his offering; 5 but (E)for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So (F)Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell. 6 Then Yahweh said to Cain, “(G)Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 (H)If you do well, [g]will not your countenance be lifted up? (I)And if you do not do well, sin is lying at the door; and its desire is for you, (J)but you must rule over it.” 8 Then Cain [h]spoke to Abel his brother; and it happened when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and (K)killed him.
9 Then Yahweh said to Cain, “(L)Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 And He said, “What have you done? (M)The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to Me from the ground. 11 And now, (N)cursed are you from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 (O)When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; (P)you will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth.” 13 And Cain said to Yahweh, “My punishment is too great to bear! 14 Behold, You have (Q)driven me this day from the face of the ground; and from Your face I will be hidden, and (R)I will be a vagrant and a wanderer on the earth, and it will be that (S)whoever finds me will kill me.” 15 So Yahweh said to him, “Therefore whoever kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him (T)sevenfold.” And Yahweh [i](U)appointed a sign for Cain, so that no one who found him would strike him.
16 Then Cain went out from the presence (V)of Yahweh and [j]settled in the land of [k]Nod, east of Eden.
17 Then Cain [l]knew his wife, and she conceived and [m]gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son. 18 Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad [n]was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael [o]was the father of Methushael, and Methushael [p]was the father of Lamech. 19 And Lamech took for himself (W)two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other, Zillah. 20 And Adah [q]gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and have livestock. 21 And his brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. 22 As for Zillah, she also [r]gave birth to Tubal-cain, the forger of all implements of bronze and iron; and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.
23 And Lamech said to his wives,
“Adah and Zillah,
Hear my voice,
You wives of Lamech,
Give ear to my word,
(X)For I [s]have killed a man for [t]striking me;
And a boy for wounding me;
24 If Cain is avenged (Y)sevenfold,
Then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”
25 (Z)Then Adam [u]knew his wife again; and she [v]gave birth to a son and named him [w]Seth, for she said, “God [x]has set for me another [y]seed in place of Abel, (AA)for Cain killed him.” 26 And to Seth, to him also, (AB)a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began (AC)to call [z]upon the name of Yahweh.
Footnotes
- Genesis 4:1 Or had relations with
- Genesis 4:1 Or bore Cain, cf. 3:16
- Genesis 4:1 Lit gotten one
- Genesis 4:1 Or man, Yahweh
- Genesis 4:2 Or bore his brother Abel, cf. 3:16
- Genesis 4:3 Lit at the end of days
- Genesis 4:7 Or surely you will be accepted.
- Genesis 4:8 Lit said; ancient versions add let us go into the field
- Genesis 4:15 Or set a mark on
- Genesis 4:16 Lit dwelt
- Genesis 4:16 Wandering
- Genesis 4:17 Or had relations
- Genesis 4:17 Or bore Enoch, cf. 3:16
- Genesis 4:18 Lit begot
- Genesis 4:18 Lit begot
- Genesis 4:18 Lit begot
- Genesis 4:20 Or bore Jabal, cf. 3:16
- Genesis 4:22 Or bore Tubal-cain, cf. 3:16
- Genesis 4:23 Or kill
- Genesis 4:23 Or bruising, cf. Ex 21:25
- Genesis 4:25 Or had relations
- Genesis 4:25 Or bore
- Genesis 4:25 Heb Sheth
- Genesis 4:25 Heb shath
- Genesis 4:25 Or offspring
- Genesis 4:26 Or by
Genesis 4
EasyEnglish Bible
Cain and Abel
4 Adam had sex with his wife, Eve. She became pregnant. She gave birth to Cain. She said, ‘With the Lord's help, I have given birth to a son.’[a]
2 Some time later, Eve gave birth to Cain's brother. She called him Abel. When they had grown to become men, Abel took care of sheep. Cain worked on the land as a farmer.
3 One day, it was time for the harvest. Cain brought to the Lord some of his crops as an offering. 4 But Abel brought to God some of the first lambs that his sheep had given birth to. He brought pieces of fat from the best of his lambs to offer them to God. Abel and his gift pleased the Lord.[b] 5 But God was not pleased with Cain and his gift. So Cain became very angry. His face looked sad.[c]
6 Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry? Why do you look sad? 7 If you do what is right, I will accept you. But if you do not do the right thing, sin will be very near to you. It will be like a wild animal at your door that is ready to eat you. But you must become its master.’[d]
Cain kills Abel
8 One day Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘We should go out to the fields.’ While they were in the fields, Cain attacked his brother Abel. He killed Abel.
9 Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is Abel, your brother?’ Cain replied, ‘I do not know where he is. Must I always keep my brother safe?’
10 Then the Lord God said, ‘Why have you done this bad thing? Now your brother's blood is lying there on the ground. That is like his voice which is shouting to me for help. 11 The ground received your brother's blood when you killed him. As a result, the ground no longer accepts you. It has brought a curse on you. 12 When you work hard to dig the ground, no plants will grow in it for your food. You will travel from place to place. You will not have your own home.’[e]
13 Cain said to the Lord, ‘That punishment is too much! It will give me too much pain. 14 Now you are making me leave my home here on the land. I will be far away from where you are. I will be a traveller without a home. If someone sees me, they will kill me.’
15 But the Lord said to Cain, ‘No! If anyone kills Cain, I will punish that person seven times more than I have punished you.’
Then the Lord put a special mark on Cain. This was to tell other people that they must not kill Cain.
16 Cain went away from the Lord. He went to live in the land called Nod, which is east of Eden.
The descendants of Cain
17 Cain had sex with his wife. She became pregnant and she gave birth to Enoch. Cain started to build a city. He called the city Enoch because that was his son's name. 18 Enoch became the father of Irad. Irad became the father of Mehujael. Mehujael became the father of Methushael. Methushael became the father of Lamech.
19 Lamech married two women. One was called Adah. The other was called Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal. Jabal became the father of people who live in tents and they take care of animals.
21 Jabal had a brother called Jubal. Jubal became the father of people who make music with harps and flutes.
22 Zillah gave birth to a son. His name was Tubal-Cain. He used bronze and iron to make tools. Tubal-Cain had a sister. Her name was Naamah.
23 Lamech said to his two wives,
‘Adah and Zillah, listen to me!
My wives, hear my words!
A man attacked me, so I killed him.
Yes, I killed a young man because he hurt me.
24 If someone kills Cain, God will punish that person seven times more.
But if someone attacks me, I will punish that person 77 times more!’[f]
The birth of Seth
25 Adam again had sex with his wife, Eve. She gave birth to another son. She called him Seth. Eve said, ‘God has given me another child to take the place of Abel, because Cain killed Abel.’ 26 Later Seth had a son and he called him Enosh.
At that time, people began to use the name of the Lord to worship him.
Footnotes
- 4:1 Eve knew that God has authority over life and death.
- 4:4 Abel chose the firstborn young animals to give to God. He killed them, and then he gave God the fat pieces. This is the best part of the meat from the animal.
- 4:5 Cain was angry because God was not happy with him and his gift. Cain did not try to learn what God really wanted as a gift. Instead, Cain showed God that he was angry.
- 4:7 God told Cain that, if he continued to do wrong things, sin would destroy him. God told Cain that he must turn away from his sins. Then he would accept Cain.
- 4:12 God's question to Cain is like the question that he asked Adam and Eve. That was when they hid in the garden. God knew that Cain had killed Abel. He wanted Cain to say that he is sorry. But Cain was not sorry that he had killed his brother.
- 4:24 Lamech is proud because he killed the young man. He wants to tell people what he has done. He does not think that he has done anything wrong. This shows that sin has become much worse in the world.
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