Genesis 4-6

Easy-to-Read Version

The First Family

4 Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She named him Cain.^[a] Eve said, “With the Lord’s help, I have made a man!”

² Eve gave birth again to Cain’s brother Abel. Abel became a shepherd, and Cain became a farmer.

The First Murder

^3-4 At harvest time,^[b] Cain brought a gift to the Lord. He brought some of the food that he grew from the ground, but Abel brought some animals from his flock. He chose some of his best sheep and brought the best parts from them.^[c]

The Lord accepted Abel and his gift. ⁵ But he did not accept Cain and his offering. Cain was sad because of this, and he became very angry. ⁶ The Lord asked Cain, “Why are you angry? Why does your face look sad? ⁷ You know that if you do what is right, I will accept you. But if you don’t, sin is ready to attack you. That sin will want to control you, but you must control it.”^[d]

⁸ Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”^[e] So they went to the field. Then Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

⁹ Later, the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

Cain answered, “I don’t know. Is it my job to watch over my brother?”

^10-11 Then the Lord said, “What have you done? You killed your brother and the ground opened up to take his blood from your hands. Now his blood is shouting to me from the ground. So you will be cursed from this ground. ¹² Now when you work the soil, the ground will not help your plants grow. You will not have a home in this land. You will wander from place to place.”

¹³ Then Cain said to the Lord, “This punishment is more than I can bear! ¹⁴ You are forcing me to leave the land, and I will not be able to be near you or have a home! Now I must wander from place to place, and anyone I meet could kill me.”

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to Cain, “No, if anyone kills you, I will punish that person much, much more.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to show that no one should kill him.

Cain’s Family

¹⁶ Cain went away from the Lord and lived in the land of Nod.^[f]

¹⁷ Cain had sexual relations with his wife. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son named Enoch. Cain built a city and gave the city the same name as his son Enoch.

¹⁸ Enoch had a son named Irad. Irad had a son named Mehujael. Mehujael had a son named Methushael. And Methushael had a son named Lamech.

¹⁹ Lamech married two women. One wife was named Adah, and the other was named Zillah. ²⁰ Adah gave birth to Jabal. Jabal was the father^[g] of people who live in tents and earn their living by keeping cattle. ²¹ Jabal was Jubal’s brother. Jubal was the father of people who play the harp and flute. ²² Zillah gave birth to Tubal-Cain. Tubal-Cain was the father of people who work with bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-Cain was named Naamah.

²³ Lamech said to his wives,

Adam and Eve Have a New Son

²⁵ Adam again had sexual relations with his wife, and she gave birth to another son. She named him Seth.^[h] Eve said, “God has given me another son. Cain killed Abel, but now I have Seth.” ²⁶ Seth also had a son. He named him Enosh. At that time people began to pray to the Lord.^[i]

The History of Adam’s Family

5 This is the history of Adam’s^[j] family. When God created people, he made them like himself.^{[k] 2} He created them male and female. And on the same day he made them, he blessed them and called them “humans.”^[l]

³ After Adam was 130 years old, he had another son. This son looked just like Adam.^[m] Adam named his son Seth. ⁴ After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. ⁵ So Adam lived a total of 930 years; then he died.

⁶ After Seth was 105 years old, he had a son named Enosh. ⁷ After Enosh was born, Seth lived 807 years and had other sons and daughters. ⁸ So Seth lived a total of 912 years; then he died.

⁹ After Enosh was 90 years old, he had a son named Kenan. ¹⁰ After Kenan was born, Enosh lived 815 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹¹ So Enosh lived a total of 905 years; then he died.

¹² After Kenan was 70 years old, he had a son named Mahalalel. ¹³ After Mahalalel was born, Kenan lived 840 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁴ So Kenan lived a total of 910 years; then he died.

¹⁵ When Mahalalel was 65 years old, he had a son named Jared. ¹⁶ After Jared was born, Mahalalel lived 830 years and had other sons and daughters. ¹⁷ So Mahalalel lived a total of 895 years; then he died.

¹⁸ After Jared was 162 years old, he had a son named Enoch. ¹⁹ After Enoch was born, Jared lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁰ So Jared lived a total of 962 years; then he died.

²¹ After Enoch was 65 years old, he had a son named Methuselah. ²² After Methuselah was born, Enoch walked with God for 300 years and had other sons and daughters. ²³ So Enoch lived a total of 365 years. ²⁴ One day Enoch was walking with God, and he disappeared. God took him.^[n]

²⁵ After Methuselah was 187 years old, he had a son named Lamech. ²⁶ After Lamech was born, Methuselah lived 782 years and had other sons and daughters. ²⁷ So Methuselah lived a total of 969 years; then he died.

²⁸ When Lamech was 182 years old, he had a son. ²⁹ Lamech named his son Noah.^[o] Lamech said, “We work very hard as farmers because God cursed the ground. But Noah will bring us rest.”

³⁰ After Noah was born, Lamech lived 595 years and had other sons and daughters. ³¹ So Lamech lived a total of 777 years; then he died.

³² After Noah was 500 years old, he had sons named Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

People Become Evil

6 The number of people on earth continued to increase. When these people had daughters, the sons of God saw how beautiful they were. So they chose the women they wanted. They married them, and the women had their children.

Then the Lord said, “People are only human. I will not let my Spirit be troubled by them forever. I will let them live only 120 years.”^[p]

During this time and also later, the Nephilim people lived in the land. They have been famous as powerful soldiers since ancient times.

⁵ The Lord saw that the people on the earth were very evil. He saw that they thought only about evil things all the time. ⁶ The Lord was sorry that he had made people on the earth. It made him very sad in his heart. ⁷ So the Lord said, “I will destroy all the people I created on the earth. I will destroy every person and every animal and everything that crawls on the earth. And I will destroy all the birds in the air, because I am sorry that I have made them.”

⁸ But Noah pleased the Lord.

Noah and the Great Flood

⁹ This is the history of Noah’s family. He was a good man all his life, and he always followed God. ¹⁰ Noah had three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

^11-12 When God looked at the earth, he saw that people had ruined it. Violence was everywhere, and it had ruined their life on earth.

¹³ So God said to Noah, “Everyone has filled the earth with anger and violence. So I will destroy all living things. I will remove them from the earth. ¹⁴ Use cypress wood^[q] and build a boat for yourself. Make rooms in the boat and cover it with tar inside and out.

¹⁵ “This is the size I want you to make the boat: 300 cubits^[r] long, 50 cubits^[s] wide, and 30 cubits^[t] high. ¹⁶ Make a window for the boat about 1 cubit^[u] below the roof.^[v] Put a door in the side of the boat. Make three floors in the boat: a top deck, a middle deck, and a lower deck.

¹⁷ “Understand what I am telling you. I will bring a great flood of water on the earth. I will destroy all living things that live under heaven. Everything on the earth will die. ¹⁸ I will make a special agreement with you. You, your wife, your sons, and their wives will all go into the boat. ¹⁹ Also, you will take two of every living thing on the earth with you into the boat. Take a male and female of every kind of animal so that they might survive with you. ²⁰ Two of every kind of bird, animal, and creeping thing will come to you so that you might keep them alive. ²¹ Also bring every kind of food into the boat, for you and for the animals.”

²² Noah did everything God commanded him.