Genesis 4–6

Cain and Abel

4Now Adam knew^a Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain. And she said, “I have given birth to a man with the help of Yahweh.” ²Then she bore^b his brother Abel. And Abel became a keeper of sheep, and Cain became a tiller of the ground. ³And in the course of time^c Cain brought an offering from the fruit of the ground to Yahweh, ⁴and Abel also brought an offering from the choicest firstlings of his flock.^d And Yahweh looked with favor to Abel and to his offering, ⁵but to Cain and to his offering he did not look with favor. And Cain became very angry, and his face fell. ⁶And Yahweh said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why is your face fallen? ⁷If you do well will I not accept you?^e But if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. And its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

⁸Then^f Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out into the field.”^g And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. ⁹Then^h Yahweh said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” ¹⁰And he said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground. ¹¹So now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive the blood of your brother from your hand. ¹²When you till the ground it shall no longer yield its strength to you.ⁱ You shall be a wanderer and a fugitive on the earth.” ¹³And Cain said to Yahweh, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. ¹⁴Look, you have driven me out today from the face of the ground, and from your face I must hide. I will be a wanderer and a fugitive on the earth, and it will happen that whoever finds me will kill me.” ¹⁵Then^j Yahweh said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain will be avenged sevenfold.” Then^k Yahweh put a sign on Cain so that whoever found him would not kill him. ¹⁶And Cain went out from the presence of Yahweh, and he settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

¹⁷And Cain knew^l his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. And when he built a city he named the city after his son, Enoch.^{m 18}And to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech. ¹⁹And Lamech took to himself two wives.ⁿ The name of the first was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah. ²⁰And Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and those who have livestock. ²¹And the name of his brother was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and wind instruments. ²²Then^o Zillah also gave birth to Tubal-Cain who forged all kinds of tools of bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.

²³Then^p Lamech said to his wives,

“Adah and Zillah, listen to my voice;

O wives of Lamech, hear my words.

I have killed a man for wounding me,

Even a young man for injuring me.

²⁴If Cain is avenged sevenfold,

Then Lamech will be avenged seventy and seven times.

²⁵Then^q Adam knew^r his wife again, and she gave birth to a son. And she called his name Seth, for she said “God has appointed to me another child in the place of Abel, because Cain killed him.” ²⁶And as for Seth, he also fathered a son, and he called his name Enosh. At that time he^s began to call on the name of Yahweh.

Adam’s Descendants to Noah

5This is the record of the generations^a of Adam. When^b God created Adam,^c he made him in the likeness of God. ²Male and female he created them. And he blessed them. And he called their name “Humankind” when^d they were created. ³And when Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he fathered a child in his likeness, according to his image. And he called his name Seth. ⁴And the days of Adam after he fathered Seth were eight hundred years. And he fathered sons and daughters. ⁵And all the days of Adam which he lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died.

⁶When^e Seth had lived one hundred and five years, he fathered Enosh. ⁷And after Seth had fathered Enosh he lived eight hundred and seven years, and fathered sons and daughters. ⁸And all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died.

⁹When^f Enosh lived ninety years, he fathered Kenan. ¹⁰And after Enosh fathered Kenan he lived eight hundred and fifteen years, and fathered sons and daughters. ¹¹And all the days of Enosh were nine hundred and five years, and he died.

¹²When^g Kenan had lived seventy years, he fathered Mahalalel. ¹³And after Kenan had fathered Mahalalel, he lived eight hundred and forty years, and fathered sons and daughters. ¹⁴And all the days of Kenan were nine hundred and ten years, and he died.

¹⁵When^h Mahalalel had lived sixty-five years, he fathered Jared. ¹⁶And after Mahalalel had fathered Jared, he lived eight hundred and thirty years, and fathered sons and daughters. ¹⁷And all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred and ninety-five years, and he died.

¹⁸Whenⁱ Jared had lived one hundred and sixty-two years, he fathered Enoch. ¹⁹And after Jared had fathered Enoch, he lived eight hundred years, and fathered sons and daughters. ²⁰And all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years, and he died.

²¹When^j Enoch had lived sixty-five years, he fathered Methuselah. ²²And Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah three hundred years, and fathered sons and daughters. ²³And all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. ²⁴And Enoch walked with God, and he was no more, for God took him.

²⁵When^k Methuselah had lived one hundred and eighty-seven years, he fathered Lamech. ²⁶And after Methuselah had fathered Lamech, he lived seven hundred and eighty-two years, and fathered sons and daughters. ²⁷And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died.

²⁸When^l Lamech had lived one hundred and eighty-two years, he fathered a son. ²⁹And he called his name Noah, saying, “This one shall relieve us^m from our work, and from the hard labor of our hands, from the ground which Yahweh had cursed. ³⁰And after Lamech had fathered Noah he lived five hundred and ninety-five years, and he fathered sons and daughters. ³¹All the days of Lamech were seven hundred and seventy-seven years, and he died.

³²Whenⁿ Noah was five hundred years old,^o Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Prelude to the Flood

6And it happened that, when humankind began to multiply on the face of the ground, daughters were born to them. ²Then^a the sons of God saw the daughters of humankind, that they were beautiful. And they took for themselves wives from all that they chose. ³And Yahweh said, “My Spirit shall not abide with humankind forever in that he is also flesh. And his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” ⁴The Nephilim were upon the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God went into the daughters of humankind, and they bore children to them. These were the mighty warriors that were from ancient times, men of renown.^b

⁵And Yahweh saw that the evil of humankind was great upon the earth, and every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was always^c only evil. ⁶And Yahweh regretted that he had made humankind on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart.^{d 7}And Yahweh said, “I will destroy humankind whom I created from upon the face of the earth, from humankind, to animals, to creeping things, and to the birds of heaven,^e for I regret that I have made them.” ⁸But Noah found favor in the eyes of Yahweh.

⁹These are the generations^f of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, without defect in his generations. Noah walked with God. ¹⁰And Noah fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. ¹¹And the earth was corrupted before God, and the earth was filled with violence. ¹²And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. ¹³And God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth was filled with violence because of them. Now, look, I am going to destroy them along with the earth. ¹⁴Make for yourself an ark of cypress wood; you must make the ark with rooms, then^g you must cover it with pitch, inside and outside. ¹⁵And this is how you must make it: the length of the ark, three hundred cubits; its width fifty cubits; its height, thirty cubits. ¹⁶You must make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above.^h And as for the door of the ark, you must put it in its side. You must make it with a lower, second, and a third deck.

¹⁷And I, behold, I am about to bring the flood waters over the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life from under the heaven;ⁱ everything that is on the earth shall perish. ¹⁸And I will establish my covenant with you, and you must go into the ark—you, and your sons, and your wife, and the wives of your sons with you. ¹⁹And of every living thing, from all flesh, you must bring two from every kind into the ark to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. ²⁰From the birds according to their^j kind, and from the animals according to their^k kind, from every creeping thing on the ground according to its^l kind—two from every kind shall come to you to keep them alive. ²¹And as for you, take for yourself from every kind of food that is eaten. And you must gather it to yourself. And it shall be for you and for them for food.” ²²And Noah did according to all that God commanded him; thus he did.