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Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:8

Cain talked with Abel his brother - קין ויאמר vaiyomer Kayin , and Cain said, etc.; not talked, for this construction the word cannot bear without great violence to analogy and grammatical accuracy. But why should it be thus translated? Because our translators could not find that any thing was spoken on the occasion; and therefore they ventured to intimate that there was a conversation, indefinitely. In the most correct editions of the Hebrew Bible there is a small space left here in the... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:10

The voice of thy brother's blood - It is probable that Cain, having killed his brother, dug a hole and buried him in the earth, hoping thereby to prevent the murder from being known; and that this is what is designed in the words, Thy brother's blood crieth unto me From The Ground - which hath opened her mouth to receive it from thy hand. Some think that by the voice of thy brother's blood the cries of Abel's widow and children are to be understood, as it is very probable that he was father... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:12

A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be - Thou shalt be expelled from the presence of God, and from thy family connections, and shalt have no fixed secure residence in any place. The Septuagint render this στενων και τρεμων εση , thou shalt be groaning and trembling upon the earth - the horror of thy crime shall ever haunt thee, and thou shalt never have any well-grounded hope that God will remit the punishment thou deservest. No state out of endless perdition can be considered more awful... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:13

My punishment is greater than I can bear - The margin reads, Mine iniquity is greater than that it may be forgiven. The original words, מנשוא עוני גדול gadol avoni minneso , may be translated, Is my crime too great to be forgiven? words which we may presume he uttered on the verge of black despair. It is most probable that עון avon signifies rather the crime than the punishment; in this sense it is used Leviticus 26:41 , Leviticus 26:43 ; 1 Samuel 28:10 ; 2 Kings 7:9 ; and ... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:14

Behold, thou hast driven me out - In Genesis 4:11 , Genesis 4:12 , God states two parts of Cain's punishment: The ground was cursed, so that it was not to yield any adequate recompense for his most careful tillage. He was to be a fugitive and a vagabond having no place in which he could dwell with comfort or security. To these Cain himself adds others. His being hidden from the face of God; which appears to signify his being expelled from that particular place where God had... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:15

The Lord set a mark upon Cain - What this mark was, has given rise to a number of frivolously curious conjectures. Dr. Shuckford collects the most remarkable. Some say he was paralytic; this seems to have arisen from the version of the Septuagint, Στενων και τρεμων εση , Groaning and trembling shalt thou be. The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel says the sign was from the great and precious name, probably one of the letters of the word Yehovah . The author of an Arabic Catena in the Bodleian... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:16

The land of Nod - As נוד nod signifies the same as sa נד , a vagabond, some think this verse should be rendered, And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, from the east of Eden, and dwelt a vagabond on the earth; thus the curse pronounced on him, Genesis 4:12 , was accomplished. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:17

She - bare Enoch - As חנוך Chanoch signifies instructed, dedicated, or initiated, and especially in sacred things, it may be considered some proof of Cain's repentance, that he appears to have dedicated this son to God, who, in his father's stead, might minister in the sacerdotal office, from which Cain, by his crime, was for ever excluded. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:19

Lamech took - two wives - He was the first who dared to reverse the order of God by introducing polygamy; and from him it has been retained, practiced, and defended to the present day. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:20

Jabal - was the father - The inventor or teacher, for so the word is understood, 1 Samuel 10:12 . He was the first who invented tent-making, and the breeding and managing of cattle; or he was, in these respects, the most eminent in that time. Though Abel was a shepherd, it is not likely he was such on an extensive scale. read more

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