Read & Study the Bible Online - Bible Portal
Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 4:1-2

Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters, Gen. 5:4. But Cain and Abel seem to have been the two eldest. Some think they were twins, and, as Esau and Jacob, the elder hated and the younger loved. Though God had cast our first parents out of paradise, he did not write them childless; but, to show that he had other blessings in store for them, he preserved to them the benefit of that first blessing of increase. Though they were sinners, nay, though they felt the humiliation and sorrow of... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Genesis 4:3-5

Here we have, I. The devotions of Cain and Abel. In process of time, when they had made some improvement in their respective callings (Heb. At the end of days, either at the end of the year, when they kept their feast of in-gathering or perhaps an annual fast in remembrance of the fall, or at the end of the days of the week, the seventh day, which was the sabbath)--at some set time, Cain and Abel brought to Adam, as the priest of the family, each of them an offering to the Lord, for the doing... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 4:2

And she again bare his brother Abel ,.... Or "added to bare" F25 ותסף ללדת "et addidit ut pareret", Pagninus, Montanus; "addidit autem parere", Cocceius, Schmidt. , not directly or immediately, but perhaps the following year; though some have thought, because no mention is made of her conceiving again, that she brought forth Abel at the same time she did Cain, or that the birth of the one immediately followed upon that of the other: and it is the common opinion of the Jews F26 ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Genesis 4:3

And in process of time it came to pass ,.... Or "at the end of days" F3 מקץ ימים "in fine dierum", Pagninus, Montanus; "a fine dierum", Schmidt. ; which some understand of the end of seven days, at the end of the week, or on the seventh day, which they suppose to be the sabbath day, these sons of Adam brought their offerings to the Lord: but this proceeds upon an hypothesis not sufficiently established, that the seventh day sabbath was now appointed to be observed in a religious... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:2

And she again bare his brother Abel - Literally, She added to bear ( ללדת ותסף vattoseph laledeth ) his brother. From the very face of this account it appears evident that Cain and Abel were twins. In most cases where a subject of this kind is introduced in the Holy Scriptures, and the successive births of children of the same parents are noted, the acts of conceiving and bringing forth are mentioned in reference to each child; here it is not said that she conceived and brought forth... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:3

In process of time - ימים מקץ mikkets yamim , at the end of days. Some think the anniversary of the creation to be here intended; it is more probable that it means the Sabbath, on which Adam and his family undoubtedly offered oblations to God, as the Divine worship was certainly instituted, and no doubt the Sabbath properly observed in that family. This worship was, in its original institution, very simple. It appears to have consisted of two parts: Thanksgiving to God as the author... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:2

Verse 2 2.And she again bare his brother Abel (226) It is well known whence the name of Cain is deduced, and for what reason it was given to him. For his mother said, קניתי (kaniti,) I have gotten a man; and therefore she called his name Cain. (227) The same explanation is not given with respect to Abel. (228) The opinion of some, that he was so called by his mother out of contempt, as if he would prove superfluous and almost useless, is perfectly absurd; for she remembered the end to which her... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 4:1-8

The kingdom of God. Another "genesis" is now described, that of sinful society , which prepares the way for the description of the rising kingdom of God . I. THE DEVELOPMENT OF MORAL EVIL IS CONTEMPORANEOUS WITH HUMAN SOCIETY . We must still bear in mind that the aim of the narrative is not scientific, but religious and didactic. The sketch of the first family in Genesis 4:1 and Genesis 4:2 is plainly an outline to be filled in. The keeper of sheep and the tiller... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 4:1-15

The first brothers. I. THE BROTHERS AT HOME . 1. The first home. Of Divine appointment, and among the choicest blessings that have survived the fall, homes are designed for— 2. A pious home . Its locality , though outside the garden, was still in Eden, which was a mercy, and probably not far from the cherubim, Adam's gate of heaven, which was hopeful. When man founds a home it should never be far removed from God, heaven, or the Church. Its structure , mayhap,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Genesis 4:2

And she again bare (literally, added to bear , a Hebraism adopted in the New Testament; vide Luke 20:11 ) his brother Abel. Habel (vanity), supposed to hint either that a mother's eager hopes had already begun to be disappointed in her eider son, or that, having in her first child's name given expression to her faith, in this she desired to preserve a monument of the miseries of human life, of which, perhaps, she had been forcibly reminded by her own maternal sorrows. Perhaps... read more

Group of Brands