Genesis 4:17
New International Version
Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch.

New Living Translation
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.

English Standard Version
Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.

Berean Standard Bible
And Cain had relations with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. Then Cain built a city and named it after his son Enoch.

King James Bible
And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.

New King James Version
And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. And he built a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son—Enoch.

New American Standard Bible
Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and Cain built a city, and named the city Enoch, after the name of his son.

NASB 1995
Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son.

NASB 1977
And Cain had relations with his wife and she conceived, and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city, and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch; and he built a city and called the name of the city Enoch, after the name of his son.

Amplified Bible
Cain knew his wife [one of Adam’s descendants] and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch; and Cain built a city and named it Enoch, after the name of his son.

Christian Standard Bible
Cain was intimate with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. Then Cain became the builder of a city, and he named the city Enoch after his son.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Cain was intimate with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. Then Cain became the builder of a city, and he named the city Enoch after his son.

American Standard Version
And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And Qayn had sexual relations with his wife, and she conceived, and she bore Khenok, and he was the builder of a city, and he called the name of the city by the name of his son, Khenok.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And Cain knew his wife, and having conceived she bore Enoch; and he built a city; and he named the city after the name of his son, Enoch.

Contemporary English Version
Later, Cain and his wife had a son named Enoch. At the time Cain was building a town, and so he named it Enoch after his son.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived, and brought forth Henoch: and he built a city, and called the name thereof by the name of his son Henoch.

English Revised Version
And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Cain made love to his wife. She became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was building a city, and he named it Enoch after his son.

Good News Translation
Cain and his wife had a son and named him Enoch. Then Cain built a city and named it after his son.

International Standard Version
Later, Cain had sexual relations with his wife. She became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain founded a city and named it after his son Enoch.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bore Enoch; and he builded a city, and called the name of the city after the name of his son Enoch.

Literal Standard Version
and Cain knows his wife, and she conceives, and bears Enoch; and he is building a city, and he calls the name of the city, according to the name of his son—Enoch.

Majority Standard Bible
And Cain had relations with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. Then Cain built a city and named it after his son Enoch.

New American Bible
Cain had intercourse with his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. Cain also became the founder of a city, which he named after his son Enoch.

NET Bible
Cain had marital relations with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was building a city, and he named the city after his son Enoch.

New Revised Standard Version
Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch; and he built a city, and named it Enoch after his son Enoch.

New Heart English Bible
Cain had marital relations with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Hanoch. He built a city and called the name of the city after the name of his son, Hanoch.

Webster's Bible Translation
And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived, and bore Enoch: and he built a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son Enoch.

World English Bible
Cain knew his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Enoch. He built a city, and named the city after the name of his son, Enoch.

Young's Literal Translation
and Cain knoweth his wife, and she conceiveth, and beareth Enoch; and he is building a city, and he calleth the name of the city, according to the name of his son -- Enoch.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Descendants of Cain
17And Cain had relations with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. Then Cain built a city and named it after his son Enoch. 18Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methusael, and Methusael was the father of Lamech.…

Cross References
Genesis 4:16
So Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Genesis 4:18
Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methusael, and Methusael was the father of Lamech.

Psalm 49:11
Their graves are their eternal homes--their dwellings for endless generations--even though their lands were their namesakes.


Treasury of Scripture

And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bore Enoch: and he built a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.

Enoch.

Genesis 5:18,22
And Jared lived an hundred sixty and two years, and he begat Enoch: …

and he.

Genesis 11:4
And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

Ecclesiastes 2:4-11
I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: …

Daniel 4:30
The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?

the name.

2 Samuel 18:18
Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and reared up for himself a pillar, which is in the king's dale: for he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name: and it is called unto this day, Absalom's place.

Psalm 49:11
Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.

Jump to Previous
Bare Beareth Birth Bore Builded Building Built Cain Child City Conceived Conceiveth Connection Enoch Lay Pregnant Relations Wife
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Bare Beareth Birth Bore Builded Building Built Cain Child City Conceived Conceiveth Connection Enoch Lay Pregnant Relations Wife
Genesis 4
1. The birth, occupation, and offerings of Cain and Abel.
8. Cain murders his brother Abel.
11. The curse of Cain.
17. Has a son called Enoch, and builds a city, which he calls after his name.
18. His descendants, with Lamech and his two wives.
25. The birth of Seth,
26. and Enos.














CAIN AND HIS DESCENDANTS.

(17) Cain knew his wife.--As Jehovah had told Eve that He would "greatly multiply her conception" (Genesis 3:16), we cannot doubt but that a numerous offspring had grown up in the 130 years that intervened between the birth of Cain and that of Seth, the substitute for Abel. As a rule, only the eldest son is mentioned in the genealogies, and Abel's birth is chronicled chiefly because of his tragical end, leading to the enactment of the merciful law which followed and to the sundering of the human race. One of Adam's daughters apparently clave unto her brother, in spite of the solemn decree of banishment passed upon him, probably, by his father, and followed him in his wanderings as his wife, and bare him a son, whom they called "Enoch." Now this name, in Hebrew Chanoch, is of the utmost importance in estimating Cain's character. It means train in Proverbs 22:6 ("Train up a child"), but is used in Deuteronomy 20:5 of the dedication of a house; and thus Cain also calls his city "Enoch," dedicated. But in old times the ideas of training and dedication were closely allied, because teaching generally took the form of initiation into sacred rites, and one so initiated was regarded as a consecrated person. Though, then, the wife may have had most to do with giving the name, yet we see in it a purpose that the child should be a trained and consecrated man; and Cain must have now put off those fierce and violent habits which had led him into so terrible a crime. We may add that this prepares our minds for the rapid advance of the Cainites in the arts of civilisation, and for the very remarkable step next taken by Cain.

He builded a city.--Heb., was building, that is, began to build a city. There was not as yet population enough for a city, but Cain, as his offspring increased, determined that they should dwell together, under training, in some dedicated common abode. He probably selected some fit spot for the acropolis, or citadel, to be the centre of his village; and as training is probably the earlier, and dedication the later meaning, Cain appears as a wise ruler, like Nimrod subsequently, rather than as a religious man. His purpose was much the same as that of the builders of the Tower of Babel, who wanted to keep mankind together that they might form a powerful community. It is worth notice that in the line of Seth, the name of the seventh and noblest of that race, is also Enoch, whose training was a close walk with God.

Verse 17. - Domiciled in Nod, whither, impelled by woman's love, his wife had accompanied him, the unhappy fugitive began to seek, if not to find, relief from the gnawing agonies of remorse in the endearments of conjugal felicity and the occupations of secular industry. And Cain knew his wife. Who must have been his sister, and married before the death of Abel, as "after that event it can scarcely be supposed, that any woman would be willing to connect herself with such a miserable fratricide" (Bush). Though afterwards forbidden, the tendency of Divine legislation on the subject of marriage being always in the direction of enlarging rather than restricting the circle of prohibited relationships, the union of brothers and sisters at the first was clearly indispensable, if the race was to multiply outwards from a common stock. "Even in much later times, and among very civilized nations, such alliances were not considered incestuous. The Athenian law made it compulsory to marry the sister if she had not found a husband at a certain age. Abraham married his half-sister, Sarah; and the legislator Moses himself was the offspring of-a matrimony which he later interdicted as unholy" (Kalisch). And she conceived. For even from the unbelieving and unthankful, the disobedient and the repro. bate, God's providential mercies are not entirely withheld (Psalm 145:9; Matthew 5:45). And bare Enoch. Chanoch, "dedicated," "initiated," from chanach, to instruct (Proverbs 22:6) and to consecrate (Deuteronomy 20:5; 1 Kings 8:63). Candlish detects in the name the impious pride of the first murderer; with more charity, Keil and Kalisch see a promise of the renovation of his life. The latter thinks that Cain called his son "Initiated" or "Instructed" to intimate that he intended to instruct him from his early years in the duties of virtue, and his city "Dedicated" to signify that he now recognized that "the firstling of his social prosperity belongs to God." If Luther's conjecture be correct, that the child received its name from its mother, it will touchingly express that young mother's hope that the child whom God had sent might be an augury of blessing for their saddened home, and her resolution both to consecrate him from his youth to God and to instruct him in God's fear and worship. And he builded. Literally, was building, i.e. began to build, "but never finished, leading still a runagate life, and so often constrained to leave the work, as the giants did who built the tower of Babel" (Willet). A city. Vater, Hartmann, and Bohlen discover in the city-building of Cain "a main proof of the mythical contents of the narrative," an advanced state of civilization "utterly unsuitable to so early a period;" but ancient tradition (Phoenician, Egyptian, and Hellenic) is unanimous in ascribing to the first men the invention of agriculture and the arts, with the discovery of metals, the origin of music, etc. (vide Havernick's 'Intro.,' § 16). Of course the עִיר which Cain erected was not a city according to modern ideas, but a keep or fort, enclosed with a wall for the defense of those who dwelt within (Murphy). It was the first step in the direction of civilization, and Kalisch notes it as a deep trait in the Biblical account that the origin of cities is ascribed not to the nomad, but to the agriculturist. Impelled by the necessities of his occupation to have a fixed residence, he would likewise in course of time be constrained by the multiplication of his household to insure their protection and comfort. It is possible also that his attempt to found a city may have been dictated by a desire to bid defiance to the curse which doomed him to a wandering life; to create for his family and himself a new point of interest outside the holy circle of Eden, and to find an outlet for those energies and powers of which, as an early progenitor of the race, he must have been conscious, and in the restless activity of which oblivion for his misery could alone be found. If so, it explains the action which is next recorded of him, that he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. I.e. he consecrated it to the realization of these his sinful hopes and schemes.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
And Cain
קַ֙יִן֙ (qa·yin)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 7014: Cain -- a city in southern Judah

had relations with
וַיֵּ֤דַע (way·yê·ḏa‘)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3045: To know

his wife,
אִשְׁתּ֔וֹ (’iš·tōw)
Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 802: Woman, wife, female

and she conceived
וַתַּ֖הַר (wat·ta·har)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 2029: To conceive, become pregnant

and gave birth to
וַתֵּ֣לֶד (wat·tê·leḏ)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 3205: To bear young, to beget, medically, to act as midwife, to show lineage

Enoch.
חֲנ֑וֹךְ (ḥă·nō·wḵ)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 2585: Enoch -- four Israelites, sons of Cain, Jered, Midian and Reuben

Then
וַֽיְהִי֙ (way·hî)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1961: To fall out, come to pass, become, be

[Cain] built
בֹּ֣נֶה (bō·neh)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 1129: To build

a city
עִ֔יר (‘îr)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 5892: Excitement

and named
וַיִּקְרָא֙ (way·yiq·rā)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 7121: To call, proclaim, read

[it]
הָעִ֔יר (hā·‘îr)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 5892: Excitement

after
כְּשֵׁ֖ם (kə·šêm)
Preposition-k | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 8034: A name

his son
בְּנ֥וֹ (bə·nōw)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 1121: A son

Enoch.
חֲנֽוֹךְ׃ (ḥă·nō·wḵ)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 2585: Enoch -- four Israelites, sons of Cain, Jered, Midian and Reuben


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OT Law: Genesis 4:17 Cain knew his wife (Gen. Ge Gn)
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