1Und der Mensch erkannte sein Weib Chavah und sie empfing und gebar Kain, und sprach: Ich habe einen Mann erworben, den Jehovah. 2Und sie fuhr fort und gebar seinen Bruder Habel; und Habel ward ein Hirte des Kleinviehs, und Kain war ein Bebauer des Bodens. 3Und es geschah am Ende der Tage, daß Kain von der Frucht des Bodens Jehovah ein Opfer brachte. 4Und auch Habel brachte dar von den Erstlingen seines Kleinviehs und von ihrem Fette; und Jehovah schaute hin auf Habel und auf sein Opfer, 5Aber auf Kain und sein Opfer schaute Er nicht hin. Und Kain entbrannte sehr und sein Angesicht senkte sich. 6Und Jehovah sprach zu Kain: Warum entbrennst du, und warum senkt sich dein Angesicht? 7Ist es nicht also? Wenn du Gutes tust so ist Erhebung. Wenn du aber nicht Gutes tust, lagert die Sünde vor der Tür, und verlanget nach dir aber du sollst darüber herrschen. 8Und Kain sprach mit seinem Bruder Habel. Und es geschah, als sie auf dem Felde waren, daß Kain wider seinen Bruder Habel aufstand und ihn erwürgete. 9Und Jehovah sprach zu Kain: Wo ist dein Bruder Habel? Und er sprach: Ich weiß es nicht. Bin ich meines Bruders Hüter? 10Und Er sprach: Was hast du getan? Die Stimme von deines Bruders Blut schreit zu Mir von dem Boden. 11Und nun - verflucht seist du von dem Boden der seinen Mund hat aufgesperrt, um das Blut deines Bruders von deiner Hand zu nehmen. 12Wenn du den Boden bebaust gibt er dir seine Kraft nicht mehr. Du wirst umherwandern und flüchtig sein auf Erden! 13Und Kain sprach zu Jehovah: Zu groß ist meine Missetat, als daß sie könnte weggenommen werden. 14Siehe! Du treibst mich heute von diesem Boden fort, und vor Deinem Angesichte muß ich mich verbergen, und wandern und flüchtig sein auf Erden. Und wird geschehen, daß jeder, der mich findet, mich erwürgt. 15Aber Jehovah sprach zu ihm: Fürwahr, wer Kain erwürgt, das soll siebenfach gerächt werden. Und Jehovah setzte ein Zeichen an Kain, auf daß wer ihn fände, ihn nicht erschlüge. 16Und Kain ging hinaus vom Angesicht Jehovahs und wohnte im Lande Nod im Osten von Eden. 17Und Kain erkannte sein Weib, und sie empfing und gebar Chanoch. Und er baute eine Stadt, und nannte den Namen der Stadt nach dem Namen seines Sohnes Chanoch. 18Und dem Chanoch ward Irad geboren, und Irad zeugte Mechujael, und Mechujael zeugte den Methuschael, und Methuschael, zeugte den Lamech. 19Und Lamech nahm sich zwei Weiber. Der Name der einen war Adah, und der Name der zweiten Zillah. 20Und Adah gebar Jabal. Dieser war der Vater derer, die in Zelten und bei Viehherden wohnen. 21Und seines Bruders Name war Jubal. Er ward der Vater aller so die Harfe und die Flöte handhaben. 22Und Zillah, auch sie gebar, den Tubalkain, den Meister aller Werkleute in Erz und Eisen, und Tubalkains Schwester war Naamah. 23Und Lamech sprach zu seinen Weibern Adah und Zillah: Höret meine Stimme, ihr Weiber Lamechs und nehmet zu Ohren meine Rede. Einen Mann habe ich erwürget zu meiner Wunde und ein Kind zu meiner Strieme, 24Wenn Kain siebenfach gerächt wird, so wird es Lamech siebenundsiebzigmal. 25Und der Mensch erkannte abermals sein Weib und sie gebar einen Sohn, und sie nannte seinen Namen Scheth; denn Gott hat mir andern Samen gesetzt für Habel, dafür daß Kain ihn erwürget hat. 26Und auch dem Scheth ward ein Sohn geboren und er nannte seinen Namen Enosch. Damals fing man an, den Namen Jehovahs 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.
