Genesis 4:23

Genesis 4:23

And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.

a. NLT: 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.

b. NIV: Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, listen to me; wives of Lamech, hear my words. I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me.

c. YLT: And Lamech saith to his wives: -- 'Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; Wives of Lamech, give ear to my saying: For a man I have slain for my wound, Even a young man for my hurt;

d. Amplified Bible Classic: Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say; for I have slain a man [merely] for wounding me, and a young man [only] for striking and bruising me.

e. Septuagint: And Lamech said to his wives, Ada and Sella, Hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech, consider my words, because I have slain a man to my sorrow and a youth to my grief.

f. Stone Edition Chumash: And Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, give ear to my speech: Have I slain a man by my wound and a child by my bruise.

1. “And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah…”

a. Lamech [3929 * Lemek] [Strong: from an unused root of uncertain meaning; Lemek, the name of two antediluvian patriarchs:—Lamech.]

1). Lamech was the great great great grandson of Cain.

a). Genesis 4:17, 18 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.

4:18 And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech.

2). Unger’s Bible Dictionary: The fifth in descent from Cain, being the son of Methusael and the father of Jabal, Jubal, Tubalcain, and the latter’s sister. Naamah. Lamech took two wives, Adah, and Zillah, and was thus the first to practice polygamy.

b. said [559 * ‘amar] [Strong: a primitive root; to say (used with great latitude):—answer, appoint, avouch, bid, boast self, call, certify, challenge, charge, (at the, give) command(-ment), commune, consider, declare, demand, × desire, determine, × expressly, × indeed, × intend, name, × plainly, promise, publish, report, require, say, speak (against, of), × still, × suppose, talk, tell, term, × that is, × think, use (speech), utter, × verily, × yet.]

c. unto his wives [802 * ‘ishshah] [Strong:  feminine of H376 or H582; irregular plural, נָשִׁים nâshîym;(used in the same wide sense as H582) a woman:—(adulter) ess, each, every, female, × many, none, one, together, wife, woman. Often unexpressed in English.]

1). The Geneva Bible Translation Notes: The lawful institution of marriage, which is, that two should be one flesh, was first corrupted in the house of Cain by Lamech.

d. Adah [5711 * Adah] [Strong: from H5710; ornament; Adah, the name of two women:—Adah.]

e. Zillah [6741 * Tsillah] [Strong: feminine of H6738; Tsillah, an antediluvian woman:—Zillah.]

1). Pulpit Commentary: The words have an archaic simplicity which bespeak a high antiquity (vide Havernick's 'Introd.,' p. 105), naturally fall into that peculiar form of parallelism which is a well-known characteristic of Hebrew poetry, and on this account, as well as from the subject, have been aptly denominated The Song of the Sword (Ewald, p. 267).

2). Unger’s Bible Dictionary: Many views have been entertained as to the meaning of these words. Keil (Com., in loc.) says that “in the form of pride and arrogance Lamech celebrates the inventions of Tubalcain;” and the idea of the song is, “Whoever inflicts a wound on me, whether man or youth, I will put to death; and for every injury done to my person I will take ten times more vengeance that that with which God promised to avenge the murder of my anscestor Cain.” Turner (Companion to Genesis, p. 209) says “that he had slain a young man, not in cold blood, but in consequence of a would or bruise he had himself received; and on the ground, apparently, of a difference between his case and that of Cain’s—viz., that he had done under provocation what Cain had done without it—he assures himself of an interest in the devine guardianship greater than that granted to Cain.”

3). All of the resources that I searched on line none of them had anything good to say about this song. The general view is that lamech was celebrating his crime and promised that if any body else messed with him he would respond ten times worse than what would have happened to Cain’s possible murderer.  

2. “…Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech…”

a. Hear [8085 * shama’] [Strong: shaw-mah'; a primitive root; to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc.; causatively, to tell, etc.):—× attentively, call (gather) together, × carefully, ×certainly, consent, consider, be content, declare, × diligently, discern, give ear, (cause to, let, make to) hear(-ken, tell), × indeed, listen, make (a) noise, (be) obedient, obey, perceive, (make a) proclaim(-ation), publish, regard, report, shew (forth), (make a) sound, × surely, tell, understand, whosoever (heareth), witness.]

b. my voice [6963 * qowl] [Strong: from an unused root meaning to call aloud; a voice or sound:—+ aloud, bleating, crackling, cry (+ out), fame, lightness, lowing, noise, + hold peace, (pro-) claim, proclamation, + sing, sound, + spark, thunder(-ing), voice, + yell.]

1). Barnes Commentary: In this fragment of ancient song, we have Lamech, under the strong excitement of having slain a man in self-defense, reciting to his wives the deed, and at the same time comforting them and himself with the assurance that if Cain the murderer would be avenegd sevenfold, he the manslayer in self-defense would be avenged seventy and seven-fold.

c. ye wives [802 * ‘ishshah] [Strong:  feminine of H376 or H582; irregular plural, נָשִׁים nâshîym;(used in the same wide sense as H582) a woman:—(adulter) ess, each, every, female, × many, none, one, together, wife, woman. Often unexpressed in English.]

d. of Lamech [3929 * Lemek] [Strong: from an unused root of uncertain meaning; Lemek, the name of two antediluvian patriarchs:—Lamech.]

e. hearken [238 * ‘azan] [Strong: a primitive root; probably to expand; but used only as a denominative from H241; to broaden out the ear (with the hand), i.e. (by implication) to listen:—give (perceive by the) ear, hear(-ken).]

f. unto my speech [565 * ‘imrah] [Strong: feminine of H561, and meaning the same:—commandment, speech, word.]

3. “…for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.”

a. for I have slain [2026 * harag] [Strong: a primitive root; to smite with deadly intent:—destroy, out of hand, kill, murder(-er), put to (death), make (slaughter), slay(-er), × surely.]

b. a man [376 * ‘iysh] [Strong: contracted for H582 (or perhaps rather from an unused root meaning to be extant); a man as an individual or a male person; often used as an adjunct to a more definite term (and in such cases frequently not expressed in translation):—also, another, any (man), a certain, champion, consent, each, every (one), fellow, (foot-, husband-) man, (good-, great, mighty) man, he, high (degree), him (that is), husband, man(-kind), none, one, people, person, steward, what (man) soever, whoso(-ever), worthy.]

c. to my wounding [6482 * petsa’] [Strong: from H6481; a wound:—wound(-ing).]

d. a young man [3206 * yeled] [Strong: from H3205; something born, i.e. a lad or offspring:—boy, child, fruit, son, young man (one).]

e. to my hurt [2250 * chabbuwrah] [Strong: from H2266; properly, bound (with stripes), i.e. a weal (or black-and-blue mark itself):—blueness, bruise, hurt, stripe, wound.]

1). This is the first secular song recorded in Scripture. It is a song about taking another life and Lemech is singing it to his wives about killing a man. The song is prideful rebellion celebrating what he has done. In the next verse he laments that he will be avenged 70 fold. The birth of the blues is rooted in the fall of man, one good reason I don’t listen to that stuff anymore. After I studied this out the first song lyrics that came to mind was “Hey Joe.”