1Und Adam erkannte sein Weib Heva. Diese ward schwanger und gebar Kain (Erwerb) und sprach: Ich habe einen Mann erworben mit Jehova. 2Noch weiter gebar sie seinen Bruder Abel. Und Abel ward ein Viehhirt, Kain ein Landbauer. 3Und es geschah, nach Verlauf von einiger Zeit, daß Kain von der Frucht des Landes Jehova ein Opfer brachte. 4Und Abel brachte auch von den Erstlingen seiner Herde und ihrem Fette. Und es sah Jehova auf Abel und auf dessen Opfer. 5Auf Kain aber und auf dessen Opfer sah er nicht. Darum entbrannte Kain sehr; es senkte sich sein Blick. 6Jehova sprach zu Kain: Warum bist du entbrannt? Und warum senket sich dein Blick? 7Nicht wahr? er hebt sich, wenn du Gutes thust; doch wenn du nicht Gutes thust; so liegt die Sünde vor der Thüre. Sie verlangt nach Dir; du aber herrsche über sie. 8Einst besprach sich Kain mit seinem Bruder Abel. Und da geschah es, als sie auf dem Felde waren, daß Kain gegen seinen Bruder Abel sich erhob und ihn erwürgte. 9Und Jehova sprach zu Kain: Wo ist Abel, dein Bruder? Er sprach: Ich weiß es nicht. Bin ich der Hüter meines Bruders? 10Und er sprach: Was hast du gethan? Die Stimme von dem Blute deines Bruders schreiet von dem Boden auf zu mir. 11Und nun - verflucht seyest du vor dem Boden, der seinen Mund geöffnet hat, um zu empfangen das Blut deines Bruders aus deiner Hand. 12Wenn du den Boden bauest; so soll er dir nicht mehr geben seine Kraft. Unstät und flüchtig sollst du seyn auf Erden. 13Und Kain sagte zu Jehova: Zu groß ist meine Schuld, als daß ich sie tragen könnte. 14Siehe! du jagst mich heute von diesem Boden weg, vor deinem Angesichte muß ich mich verbergen; unstät und flüchtig werd' ich seyn auf Erden; da wird nun Jeder, der mich findet, mich erwürgen. 15Jehova sprach zu ihm: Fürwahr! Wer Kain erwürgt, soll siebenfach gestrafet werden. Und Jehova gab dem Kain ein Zeichen, daß ihn nicht Jeder, der ihn fände, erwürgen dürfe. 16So ging denn Kain fort vom Angesichte Jehova's, und wohnte im Lande Nod (d.h. Verbannung) östlich von Eden. 17Und Kain erkannte sein Weib, und sie ward schwanger und gebar den Henoch. Und er bauete eine Stadt; und er nannte den Namen der Stadt nach dem Namen seines Sohnes Henoch. 18Dem Henoch wurde Irad geboren; und Irad zeugete den Mehujael; Mehujael zeugete den Methusael, und Methusael zeugete Lamech. 19Und Lamech nahm sich zwei Weiber; die eine hieß Ada, die andere Zilla. 20Und Ada gebar Jabal. Der war der Vater der Zeltbewohner und der Viehzucht. 21Sein Bruder hieß Jubal. Der war der Vater Aller, die auf Saiten oder Pfeifen spielen. 22Auch Zilla gebar Thubalkain, der allerlei Werkzeuge von Erz und Eisen schmiedete. Die Schwester Tubalkains war Naema. 23Und Lamech sprach zu seinen Weibern: Ada und Zilla, höret meine Stimme! Ihr Weiber Lamechs, horchet auf meine Rede! Ja, einen Mann erwürge ich für meine Wunde; und einen Jüngling für meine Striemen. 24Wird Kain siebenfach gerächet; so wird es Lamech siebenzig und siebenfach. 25Und Adam erkannte noch einmal sein Weib, und sie gebar einen Sohn; und sie nannten seinen namen Seth (d. i. gesetzt); denn gesetzt hat Gott mir einen andern Samen an Abels Stelle, den Kain erwürget hat. 26Und es wurde auch dem Seth ein Sohn geboren, den hieß er Enos. Damals fing man an, den Namen Jehova's anzurufen.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 BIRTH OF CAIN AND ABEL. (Gen. 4:1-26)
Eve said, I have gotten a man from the Lord--that is, "by the help of the Lord"--an expression of pious gratitude--and she called him Cain, that is, "a possession," as if valued above everything else; while the arrival of another son reminding Eve of the misery she had entailed on her offspring, led to the name Abel, that is, either weakness, vanity (
Ps 39:5), or grief, lamentation. Cain and Abel were probably twins; and it is thought that, at this early period, children were born in pairs (
Gen 5:4) [CALVIN].
2 Abel was a keeper of sheep--literally, "a feeder of a flock," which, in Oriental countries, always includes goats as well as sheep. Abel, though the younger, is mentioned first, probably on account of the pre-eminence of his religious character.
3 in process of time--Hebrew, "at the end of days," probably on the Sabbath.
brought . . . an offering unto the Lord--Both manifested, by the very act of offering, their faith in the being of God and in His claims to their reverence and worship; and had the kind of offering been left to themselves, what more natural than that the one should bring "of the fruits of the ground," and that the other should bring "of the firstlings of his flock and the fat thereof" [
Gen 4:4].
4 the Lord had respect unto Abel, not unto Cain, &c.--The words, "had respect to," signify in Hebrew,--"to look at any thing with a keen earnest glance," which has been translated, "kindle into a fire," so that the divine approval of Abel's offering was shown in its being consumed by fire (see
Gen 15:17;
Judg 13:20).
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?--A better rendering is, "Shalt thou not have the excellency"? which is the true sense of the words referring to the high privileges and authority belonging to the first-born in patriarchal times.
sin lieth at the door--sin, that is, a sin offering--a common meaning of the word in Scripture (as in
Hos 4:8;
2Cor 5:21;
Heb 9:28). The purport of the divine rebuke to Cain was this, "Why art thou angry, as if unjustly treated? If thou doest well (that is, wert innocent and sinless) a thank offering would have been accepted as a token of thy dependence as a creature. But as thou doest not well (that is, art a sinner), a sin offering is necessary, by bringing which thou wouldest have met with acceptance and retained the honors of thy birthright." This language implies that previous instructions had been given as to the mode of worship; Abel offered through faith (
Heb 11:4).
unto thee shall be his desire--The high distinction conferred by priority of birth is described (
Gen 27:29); and it was Cain's conviction, that this honor had been withdrawn from him, by the rejection of his sacrifice, and conferred on his younger brother--hence the secret flame of jealousy, which kindled into a settled hatred and fell revenge.
8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother--Under the guise of brotherly familiarity, he concealed his premeditated purpose till a convenient time and place occurred for the murder (
1John 3:12;
Jude 1:11).
9 I know not--a falsehood. One sin leads to another.
10 the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me--Cain, to lull suspicion, had probably been engaging in the solemnities of religion when he was challenged directly from the Shekinah itself.
11 now art thou cursed from the earth--a curse superadded to the general one denounced on the ground for Adam's sin.
12 a fugitive--condemned to perpetual exile; a degraded outcast; the miserable victim of an accusing conscience.
13 And Cain said . . . My punishment is greater than I can bear--What an overwhelming sense of misery; but no sign of penitence, nor cry for pardon.
14 every one that findeth me shall slay me--This shows that the population of the world was now considerably increased.
15 whosoever slayeth Cain--By a special act of divine forbearance, the life of Cain was to be spared in the then small state of the human race.
set a mark--not any visible mark or brand on his forehead, but some sign or token of assurance that his life would be preserved. This sign is thought by the best writers to have been a wild ferocity of aspect that rendered him an object of universal horror and avoidance.
16 presence of the Lord--the appointed place of worship at Eden. Leaving it, he not only severed himself from his relatives but forsook the ordinances of religion, probably casting off all fear of God from his eyes so that the last end of this man is worse than the first (
Matt 12:45).
land of Nod--of flight or exile--thought by many to have been Arabia-Petrća--which was cursed to sterility on his account.
17 builded a city--It has been in cities that the human race has ever made the greatest social progress; and several of Cain's descendants distinguished themselves by their inventive genius in the arts.
19 Lamech took unto him two wives--This is the first transgression of the law of marriage on record, and the practice of polygamy, like all other breaches of God's institutions, has been a fruitful source of corruption and misery.
23 Lamech said unto his wives--This speech is in a poetical form, probably the fragment of an old poem, transmitted to the time of Moses. It seems to indicate that Lamech had slain a man in self-defense, and its drift is to assure his wives, by the preservation of Cain, that an unintentional homicide, as he was, could be in no danger.
26 men began to call upon the name of the Lord--rather, by the name of the Lord. God's people, a name probably applied to them in contempt by the world.
