1Y Adam conoció <sexualmente> a Eva, su esposa, la cual concibió y parió a Caín, y dijo: He obtenido un varón por Jehovah (el Eterno). 2Y otra vez parió a su hermano Habel. Y Habel fue pastor de ovejas, y Caín fue labrador de la tierra. 3Y aconteció al cabo de días, que Caín trajo del fruto de la tierra una ofrenda a Jehovah (el Eterno). 4Y Habel trajo también de los primer nacidos de sus ovejas, y de sus grosuras: y Jehovah (el Eterno) miró a Habel y a su ofrenda. 5Y a Caín y a su ofrenda no miró. Y Caín se enfureció mucho, y decayó su semblante. 6Entonces Jehovah (el Eterno) dijo a Caín: ¿Por qué te has enfurecido? ¿y por qué ha decaido tu semblante? 7¿Cómo, no serás exaltado si bien hicieres: y si no hicieres bien, no estarás echado por tu pecado a la puerta? Con todo esto, a ti será su deseo; y tú te enseñorearás de él. 8Y hablo Caín a su hermano Habel. Y aconteció que, estando ellos en el campo, Caín se levantó contra Habel su hermano, y le mató. 9Y Jehovah (el Eterno) dijo a Caín: ¿Dónde está Habel tu hermano? Y él respondió: No sé: ¿Soy yo cuidador de mi hermano? 10Y él le dijo: ¿Qué has hecho? La voz de entre sangres de tu hermano me claman desde la tierra. 11Y ahora maldito seas tú por causa de la tierra, que por causa de tu mano abrió su boca para recibir a sangres de tu hermano. 12Cuando labrares la tierra, no te volverá a dar su fuerza: siendo errante y divagando estarás en la tierra. 13Y dijo Caín a Jehovah (el Eterno): Grande es mi injusticia de perdonar. 14He aquí, me echas hoy de la faz de la tierra, y de tu presencia me esconderé: y seré vagabundo y extranjero en la tierra: y será, que cualquiera que me hallare, me matará. 15Y le respondió Jehovah (el Eterno): Cierto cualquiera que matare a Caín, siete veces será castigado. Entonces Jehovah (el Eterno) puso una señal en Caín, para que no le matase cualquiera que le hallase. 16Y salió Caín de a delante de Jehovah (el Eterno), y habitó en tierra de Nod, al oriente de Edén. 17Y conoció Caín a su mujer, la cual concibió y parió a Henoc: y construyó una ciudad, y llamó el nombre de la ciudad del nombre de su hijo, Henoc. 18Y nació a Henoc Irad, e Irad engendró a MehiyaeL, y MehiyaeL engendró a MetusaeL, y MetusaeL engendró a Lamec. 19Y Lamec tomó dos mujeres para sí, el nombre de la una fue Ada, y el nombre de la otra Zila. 20Y parió Ada a Jabel, el cual fue padre de los que habitan en tiendas, y de los que tienen ganados. 21Y el nombre de su hermano fue Jubal, el cual fue padre de todo el que toca harpa y flauta. 22Y Zila también parió a Tubal-Caín, fabricante de toda obra de bronce y de hierro; y la hermana de Tubal-Caín fue Naama. 23Y dijo Lamec a sus mujeres Ada y Zila: Oíd mi voz mujeres de Lamec, escuchad mi dicho: ¿Qué varón mataré por mi herida y joven por mi golpe?: 24¿Qué siete veces será vengado Caín?, Lamec lo será setenta veces siete. 25Y conoció Adam aun a su mujer, y parió un hijo, y llamó su nombre Set, porque <ella dijo>: “ELohim (Poderosos) me ha dado otra simiente en lugar de Habel, porque le mató Caín”, 26Y a Set también le nació un hijo, y llamó su nombre Enós. Entonces fue comenzado a llamar en nombre de Jehovah (el Eterno).
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.