Immerse: Beginnings Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 20
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IMMERSE
•
BEGINNINGS
4:6-24
“Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so
dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse
to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to
control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”
One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.” And
while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed
him.
Afterward the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is
Abel?”
“I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”
But the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood
cries out to me from the ground! Now you are cursed and banished from
the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood. No longer will the
ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now
on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”
Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment is too great for me to bear!
You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have
made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!”
The Lord replied, “No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone
who kills you.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who
might try to kill him. So Cain left the Lord’s presence and settled in the
land of Nod, east of Eden.
Cain had sexual relations with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave
birth to Enoch. Then Cain founded a city, which he named Enoch, after
his son. Enoch had a son named Irad. Irad became the father of Mehujael.
Mehujael became the father of Methushael. Methushael became the father
of Lamech.
Lamech married two women. The first was named Adah, and the second was Zillah. Adah gave birth to Jabal, who was the first of those who
raise livestock and live in tents. His brother’s name was Jubal, the first of
all who play the harp and flute. Lamech’s other wife, Zillah, gave birth to
a son named Tubal-cain. He became an expert in forging tools of bronze
and iron. Tubal-cain had a sister named Naamah. One day Lamech said
to his wives,
“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
listen to me, you wives of Lamech.
I have killed a man who attacked me,
a young man who wounded me.
If someone who kills Cain is punished seven times,
then the one who kills me will be punished seventy-seven times!”
