Genesis 4
Big idea: One generation after the garden, the fracture becomes fratricide. Two brothers bring offerings; one is accepted and one is not, and instead of asking why, Cain nurses the anger God warns him about in the book's first sustained image of temptation — sin crouching at the door, wanting him, and able to be mastered. He kills, evades the question "where is your brother?" exactly as his father evaded "where are you?", and is exiled — but marked for protection. His line builds a city and invents arts and metallurgy, and produces Lamech, who turns God's sevenfold protection into a boast of seventy-sevenfold revenge. Then a quiet counter-line: Seth, and people beginning to call on Yahweh's name.
Chapter 4 ends with two lines running: Cain's, which escalates into Lamech's vengeance song, and Seth's, where men begin to call on Yahweh's name. Chapter 5 follows Seth's line ten generations down to Noah, and chapter 6 will show what became of the other.
4:1–7 — Two offerings, and sin at the door
Eve bears Cain and Abel; one works the ground, one keeps sheep. Both bring an offering — but the text notes that Abel brought the firstborn and the fat, the best of it. God accepts Abel's and not Cain's, and Cain's face falls. God comes to him with a question and a warning: do well and be lifted up; if not, sin is crouching at the door, its desire is for you, and you must rule over it.
1 The man knew Eve his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Cain, and said, “I have gotten a man with Yahweh’s help.” 2 Again she gave birth, to Cain’s brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 As time passed, Cain brought an offering to Yahweh from the fruit of the ground. 4 Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and of its fat. Yahweh respected Abel and his offering, 5 but he didn’t respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and the expression on his face fell. 6 Yahweh said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why has the expression of your face fallen? 7 If you do well, won’t it be lifted up? If you don’t do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you, but you are to rule over it.”
4:8–16 — Where is your brother?
Cain lures Abel into the field and kills him. God's question — "Where is Abel your brother?" — echoes the garden, and Cain answers with a lie and a sneer. The ground that Cain works now testifies against him: his brother's blood cries out from it, and it will no longer yield to him. Cain protests that the sentence is unbearable, and God, without lifting the exile, gives him a mark of protection.
8 Cain said to Abel, his brother, “Let’s go into the field.” While they were in the field, Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him. 9 Yahweh said to Cain, “Where is Abel, your brother?” He said, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 Yahweh said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground. 11 Now you are cursed because of the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 From now on, when you till the ground, it won’t yield its strength to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” 13 Cain said to Yahweh, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14 Behold, you have driven me out today from the surface of the ground. I will be hidden from your face, and I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. Whoever finds me will kill me.” 15 Yahweh said to him, “Therefore whoever slays Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold.” Yahweh appointed a sign for Cain, so that anyone finding him would not strike him. 16 Cain left Yahweh’s presence, and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
4:17–24 — The line of Cain, and Lamech's song
Exiled, Cain builds a city and names it for his son. His descendants are the first civilization: tent-dwelling herdsmen, musicians, metalworkers — real culture, real achievement, all of it downstream of a murder. And in the seventh generation stands Lamech, who takes two wives and sings the Bible's first poem after Adam's: a boast that he killed a young man for wounding him, and that God's sevenfold protection of Cain is nothing next to his own seventy-sevenfold revenge.
17 Cain knew his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Enoch. He built a city, and named the city after the name of his son, Enoch. 18 Irad was born to Enoch. Irad became the father of Mehujael. Mehujael became the father of Methushael. Methushael became the father of Lamech. 19 Lamech took two wives: the name of the first one was Adah, and the name of the second one was Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal, who was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. 21 His brother’s name was Jubal, who was the father of all who handle the harp and pipe. 22 Zillah also gave birth to Tubal Cain, the forger of every cutting instrument of bronze and iron. Tubal Cain’s sister was Naamah. 23 Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice. You wives of Lamech, listen to my speech, for I have slain a man for wounding me, a young man for bruising me. 24 If Cain will be avenged seven times, truly Lamech seventy-seven times.”
4:25–26 — Seth, and calling on the name
The chapter turns quietly. Eve bears another son and names him Seth — "appointed" — saying God has given her another offspring in place of Abel. Seth has a son, Enosh, and at that time people began to call on Yahweh's name.
25 Adam knew his wife again. She gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, saying, “for God has given me another child instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” 26 A son was also born to Seth, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to call on Yahweh’s name.
Scripture text: World English Bible (public domain).