Chapter 4
1 1 The man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, ＂I have produced a man with the help of the LORD.＂
亚当认识了自己的妻子厄娃，厄娃怀了孕，生了加音说：＂我赖上主获得了一个人。＂
2 Next she bore his brother Abel. Abel became a keeper of flocks, and Cain a tiller of the soil.
以后她生了加音的弟弟亚伯尔；亚伯尔牧羊，加音耕田。
3 In the course of time Cain brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the soil,
有一天，加音把田地的出产作祭品献给天主；
4 while Abel, for his part, brought one of the best firstlings of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
同时亚伯尔献上自己羊群中最肥美而又是首生的羊；上主惠顾了亚伯尔和他的祭品，
4 while Abel, for his part, brought one of the best firstlings of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
同时亚伯尔献上自己羊群中最肥美而又是首生的羊；上主惠顾了亚伯尔和他的祭品，
5 but on Cain and his offering he did not. Cain greatly resented this and was crestfallen.
却没有惠顾加音和他的祭品；因此加音大怒，垂头丧气。
6 So the LORD said to Cain: ＂Why are you so resentful and crestfallen?
上主对加音说：＂你为什么发怒？为什么垂头丧气？
7 2 If you do well, you can hold up your head; but if not, sin is a demon lurking at the door: his urge is toward you, yet you can be his master.＂
你若做得好，岂不也可仰起头来？你若做得不好，罪恶就伏在你门前，企图对付你，但你应制服它。＂
8 Cain said to his brother Abel, ＂Let us go out in the field.＂ When they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
事后加音对他弟弟亚伯尔说：＂我们到田间去！＂当他们在田间的时候，加音就袭击了弟弟亚伯尔，将他杀死。
9 Then the LORD asked Cain, ＂Where is your brother Abel?＂ He answered, ＂I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?＂
上主对加音说：＂你弟弟亚伯尔在那里？＂他答说：＂我不知道，难道我是看守我弟弟的人？＂
10 The LORD then said: ＂What have you done! Listen: your brother's blood cries out to me from the soil!
上主说：＂你作了什么事？听！你弟弟的血由地上向我喊冤。
11 Therefore you shall be banned from the soil that opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.
你现在是地上所咒骂的人，地张开口由你手中接收了你弟弟的血，
12 If you till the soil, it shall no longer give you its produce. You shall become a restless wanderer on the earth.＂
从此你即使耕种，地也不会给你出产；你在地上要成个流离失所的人。＂
13 Cain said to the LORD: ＂My punishment is too great to bear.
加音对上主说：＂我的罪罚太重，无法承担。
14 Since you have now banished me from the soil, and I must avoid your presence and become a restless wanderer on the earth, anyone may kill me at sight.＂
看你今天将我由这地面上驱逐，我该躲避你的面，在地上成了个流离失所的人；那麽凡遇见我的，必要杀我。＂
15 Not so!＂ the LORD said to him. ＂If anyone kills Cain, Cain shall be avenged sevenfold.＂ So the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest anyone should kill him at sight.
上主对他说：＂决不这样，凡杀加音的人，一定要受七倍的罚。＂上主遂给加音一个记号，以免遇见他的人击杀他。
16 4 Cain then left the LORD'S presence and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
加音就离开上主的面，住在伊甸东方的诺得地方。
17 5 Cain had relations with his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. Cain also became the founder of a city, which he named after his son Enoch.
加音认识了自己的妻子，她怀了孕，生了哈诺客。加音建筑了一座城，即以他儿子的名字，给这城起名叫＂哈诺客。＂
18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad became the father of Mehujael; Mehujael became the father of Methusael, and Methusael became the father of Lamech.
哈诺客生了依辣得；依辣得生了默胡雅耳；默胡雅耳生了默突沙耳；默突沙耳生了拉默客。
19 Lamech took two wives; the name of the first was Adah, and the name of the second Zillah.
拉默客娶了两个妻子：一个名叫阿达，一个名叫漆拉。
20 Adah gave birth to Jabal, the ancestor of all who dwell in tents and keep cattle.
阿达生了雅巴耳，他是住在帐幕内畜牧者的始祖。
21 His brother's name was Jubal; he was the ancestor of all who play the lyre and the pipe.
他的弟弟名叫犹巴耳，他是所有弹琴吹箫者的始祖。
22 Zillah, on her part, gave birth to Tubalcain, the ancestor of all who forge instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.
同时漆拉也生了突巴耳加音，他是制造各种铜铁器具的匠人。突巴耳加音有个姊妹名叫纳阿玛。
23 Lamech said to his wives: ＂Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, listen to my utterance: I have killed a man for wounding me, a boy for bruising me.
拉默客对自己的妻子说：＂阿达和漆拉倾听我的声音，拉默客的妻子，静聆我的言语：因我受伤，杀了一成年；因我受损，杀了一青年；
24 If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold."
杀加音的受罚是七倍，杀拉默客的是七十七倍。”
25 6 Adam again had relations with his wife, and she gave birth to a son whom she called Seth. ＂God has granted me more offspring in place of Abel,＂ she said, ＂because Cain slew him.＂
亚当又认识了自己的妻子，她生了个儿子，给他起名叫舍特说：＂天主又赐给了我一个儿子，代替加音杀了的亚伯尔。＂
26 To Seth, in turn, a son was born, and he named him Enosh. At that time men began to invoke the LORD by name.
舍特也生了一个儿子，给他起名叫厄诺士。那时人才开始呼求上主的名。
Footnotes
1 [1] The Hebrew name qayin (＂Cain＂) and the term qaniti (＂I have produced＂) present another play on words.
2 [7] Demon lurking: in Hebrew, robes, literally ＂croucher,＂ is used here, like the similar Akkadian term rabisu, to designate a certain kind of evil spirit.
3 [15] A mark: probably a tattoo. The use of tattooing for tribal marks has always been common among the nomads of the Near Eastern deserts.
4 [16] The land of Nod: not a definite geographic region. The term merely means ＂the land of nomads.＂
5 [17-22] In Genesis 4:12-16 Cain was presented as the archetype of nomadic peoples. The sacred author in this section follows another ancient tradition that makes Cain the prototype of sedentary peoples with higher material culture.
6 [25-26] Has granted: Hebrew shat, a wordplay on the name shet (＂Seth＂). Enosh: in Hebrew, a synonym of adam (＂man＂). At the time . . . name: men began to call God by his personal name, Yahweh, rendered as ＂the LORD＂ in this version of the Bible. The ancient, so-called Yahwist source used here employs the name Yahweh long before the time of Moses. Another ancient source, the Elohist (from its use of the term Elohim, ＂God,＂ instead of Yahweh, ＂Lord,＂ for the pre-Mosaic period), makes Moses the first to use Yahweh as the proper name of Israel's God, previously known by other names as well; cf Exodus 3:13-15.