Knox Bible

1

And now Adam had knowledge of his wife, Eve, and she conceived. She called her child Cain, as if she would say, Canithi, I have been enriched by the Lord with a man-child.

2

Then she bore a second time; this child, his brother, she called Abel. Abel became a shepherd, while Cain tilled the ground.

3

Time passed, and Cain brought the Lord an offering out of the crops the land had given him;

4

Abel, too, brought an offering, and his offering was out of the first-born of his flock, with their fat. On Abel, and on his offering, the Lord looked with favour,

5

but not upon Cain, or his offering; so that Cain was much enraged, and his looks were lowering.

6

But the Lord asked Cain, What does this anger mean, this frowning face of thine?

7

If thy actions are good, canst thou doubt they will be rewarded? If not, canst thou doubt that guilt, thenceforward, will lie at thy door? Meanwhile he is at thy mercy, and thou canst have thy way with him.✻

8

Then Cain said to his brother, Let us go out together;✻ and while they were out in the open, Cain turned upon his brother Abel and killed him.

9

Then the Lord said to Cain, Where is thy brother Abel? I cannot tell, said he; is it for me to keep watch over my brother?

10

But the answer came, What is this thou hast done? The blood of thy brother has found a voice that cries out to me from the ground.

11

Henceforward thou shalt be an outlaw from this ground, that has opened to drink in thy brother’s blood, shed by thy hand.

12

Till that ground, and it will yield thee its fruit no longer; thou shalt be a wanderer, a fugitive on earth.

13

Then Cain said to the Lord, Guilt like mine is too great to find forgiveness.

14

And now thou art robbing me of the ground, and I shall be cut off from thy protection, and wander over the earth, a fugitive; anyone I meet will slay me.

15

But the Lord told him, It shall not be so; whoever kills Cain shall pay for it sevenfold. And the Lord gave Cain such token of his protection as should warn the chance-comer not to kill him.

16

So Cain was banished from God’s presence, and lived as a fugitive, east of Eden.

17

And now Cain had knowledge of his wife, and she conceived. She called her child Henoch; and Cain built a city which he called Henoch, after his son’s name.

18

This Henoch was the ancestor, through Irad, Maviael, and Mathusael, of Lamech.

19

Lamech married two wives, the one called Ada and the other Sella.

20

It was Ada that gave birth to Jabel, the first founder of all those who live in tents and herd sheep;

21

and he had a brother called Jubal, the founder of all those who play music, on the harp or the pipe.

22

Sella gave birth to Tubalcain, who became a smith, skilled in every kind of brass and iron work; and Tubalcain had a sister called Noema.

23

It was to his wives, Ada and Sella, that Lamech uttered the saying, Listen to these words of mine, you wives of Lamech, note my saying well. The man that wounds me, the stripling who deals me a blow, I reward with death.✻

24

For Cain, sevenfold vengeance was to be taken; for Lamech, it shall be seventy times as much.✻

25

And once more Adam had knowledge of his wife, and she bore a son; Seth was the name she gave him, as if she would say, Seth, the Lord has secured a line of issue for me in place of Abel, now that Cain has murdered him.

26

Seth, too, had a son whom he called Enos; and he began to call upon the name of the Lord.✻