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The First Family

¹ Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.^[a] Eve said, "With the Lord's help, I have given birth to a man." ² After that, Eve gave birth to Cain's brother Abel. Abel took care of flocks, and Cain became a farmer.

³ Later, Cain brought some food from the ground as a gift to God. ⁴ Abel brought the best parts from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, ⁵ but he did not accept Cain and his gift. So Cain became very angry and felt rejected.

⁶ The Lord asked Cain, "Why are you angry? Why do you look so unhappy? ⁷ If you do things well, I will accept you, but if you do not do them well, sin is ready to attack you. Sin wants you, but you must rule over it."

⁸ Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out into the field." While they were out in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

⁹ Later, the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?"

Cain answered, "I don't know. Is it my job to take care of my brother?"

¹⁰ Then the Lord said, "What have you done? Your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground. ¹¹ And now you will be cursed in your work with the ground, the same ground where your brother's blood fell and where your hands killed him. ¹² You will work the ground, but it will not grow good crops for you anymore, and you will wander around on the earth."

¹³ Then Cain said to the Lord, "This punishment is more than I can stand! ¹⁴ Today you have forced me to stop working the ground, and now I must hide from you. I must wander around on the earth, and anyone who meets me can kill me."

¹⁵ The Lord said to Cain, "No! If anyone kills you, I will punish that person seven times more." Then the Lord put a mark on Cain warning anyone who met him not to kill him.

Cain's Family

¹⁶ So Cain went away from the Lord and lived in the land of Nod,^[b] east of Eden. ¹⁷ He had sexual relations with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. At that time Cain was building a city, which he named after his son Enoch. ¹⁸ Enoch had a son named Irad, Irad had a son named Mehujael, Mehujael had a son named Methushael, and Methushael had a son named Lamech.

¹⁹ Lamech married two women, Adah and Zillah. ²⁰ Adah gave birth to Jabal, who became the first person to live in tents and raise cattle. ²¹ Jabal's brother was Jubal, the first person to play the harp and flute. ²² Zillah gave birth to Tubal-Cain, who made tools out of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.

²³ Lamech said to his wives:

Adam and Eve Have a New Son

²⁵ Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve again, and she gave birth to a son. She named him Seth^[c] and said, "God has given me another child. He will take the place of Abel, who was killed by Cain." ²⁶ Seth also had a son, and they named him Enosh. At that time people began to pray to the Lord.