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4
God punished Adam and Eve's oldest son Cain for killing his younger brother Abel
1 Adam ◄had sex/slept► with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son whom she named Cain, which means 'produce', because, she said, “By Yahweh's help I have produced a son.” Some time later she gave birth to another son, and she named him Abel.
2 After those boys grew up, Abel ◄tended/took care of► sheep and goats, and Cain became a farmer. 3 One day Cain harvested some of the crops he had grown and brought them to Yahweh as a gift for him, 4 and Abel took from his flock some of the first lambs that had been born and killed them and, as a gift, gave to Yahweh the fatty parts, which were the best parts. Yahweh was pleased with Abel and his offering, 5 but he was not pleased with Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry, and his face looked dejected. 6 Yahweh said to Cain, “◄You should not be angry!/Why are you angry?► [RHQ] ◄You should not scowl like that!/Why do you scowl like that?► [RHQ] 7 If you had done what was right (OR, if you do what is right), [RHQ] I would accept your offering. But if you do not do what is right, your desire to sin is ready to attack you [PRS] like a wild animal that crouches outside the doorway, ready to spring on its victim [MET]. Your desire to sin wants to control you, but you must ◄control/not obey► it.”
8 But one day, Cain said to his younger brother Abel, “Let's go to the fields to hunt for some animals.” So they went together. And when they were in the countryside, suddenly Cain attacked Abel and killed him. 9 Then, even though Yahweh knew what Cain had done, he said to Cain, “ Do you know where Abel, your younger brother, is?”
Cain replied, “No, I do not know. ◄My job is not to guard my younger brother!/Am I supposed to take care of my younger brother?►” [RHQ] 10 Yahweh said, “You have done a terrible deed! [RHQ] So now it is as though your younger brother's voice is crying to me from the ground, demanding that this must be avenged. 11 You have killed your younger brother, and it is as though the ground has soaked up your younger brother's blood. So now I will expel you from this land and curse your efforts to produce crops. 12 You will till the ground to plant crops, but the ground will produce very few [HYP] crops. And you will continually wander around the earth, and not have any place to live permanently.” 13 Cain replied to Yahweh, “You are punishing me more then I can endure. 14 You are about to expel me from the ground that I have been tilling, and I will no longer be able to come ◄into your presence/and talk with you►. Furthermore, I will be continually wandering around the earth with no place to live permanently, and anyone who sees me will kill me.” 15 But Yahweh said to him, “No, that will not happen. I will put a mark on you to warn anyone who sees you that I will punish him severely if he kills you. I will punish that person seven times as severely as I am punishing you.” Then Yahweh put a mark on Cain's forehead. 16 So Cain left Yahweh and went to live in the land called Nod, which means 'wandering', which was east of Eden.
The descendants of Cain
17 Some time later, Cain ◄had sex/slept► with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son, whom she named Enoch. Then Cain started to build a city, and he named the city 'Enoch,' the same name that his son had. 18 Enoch grew up and married and became the father of a son whom he named Irad. When Irad grew up he became the father of a son whom he named Mehujael. Mehujael grew up and became the father of a son whom he named Methuselah. Methuselah grew up and became the farther of Lamech. 19 When Lamech grew up he married two women. The name of one was Adah and the other was Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to a son she named Jabal. 21 Later, Jabal was the first person who lived in tents because he traveled from place to place to take care of livestock. His younger brother's name was Jubal. He was the first person who made/played a ◄lyre/stringed instrument► and a flute. 22 Lamech's other wife Zillah gave birth to a son whom she named Tubal-Cain. Later he became a ◄blacksmith/one who made tools from bronze and iron►. The name of Tubal-Cain's younger sister was Naamah.
23 One day Lamech said to his two wives, “Adah and Zillah, my two wives, listen carefully to what I am saying. A young man struck me and wounded me, so I killed him. 24 Yahweh said long ago that he would avenge and punish anyone who killed Cain seven times as much as he punished Cain. So if anyone tries to kill me, I will punish him seventy-seven times as much.”
Adam and Eve had another son, Seth
25 Adam continued to ◄have sex/sleep► with [EUP] his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to another son, whom she named Seth, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means 'given', because, she said, “God has given me another child to take the place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” 26 When Seth grew up, he became the father of a son whom he named Enosh. About that time people began to worship Yahweh again.

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Note: The Old Testament in this translation is still being worked on, and is in draft form. Updates will be posted at eBible.org/t4t/.

© 2008-2017 Ellis W. Deibler, Jr.