And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
What does Genesis 4:2 mean?
When Cain was born, Eve said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. Perhaps she thought that this was the promised seed.
Key themes
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Keep this verse inside Genesis 4:1-2 and alongside a few nearby related passages.
Commentary on Genesis 4:2
His brother Habel. - Habel means "breath, vanity." Does a sense of the vanity of earthly things grow in the minds of our first parents? Has the mother found her sorrow multiplied? Has she had many daughters between these sons? Is there something delicate and fragile in the appearance of Habel? Has Cain disappointed a mother's hopes? Some of all these thoughts may have prompted the name. There is something remarkable in the phrase "his brother Habel." It evidently points with touching simplicity to the coming outrage that was to destroy the peace and purity of the first home. The two primitive employments of men were the agricultural and the pastoral.
Key words
- added to bare
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added to bare. (y) "et addidit ut pareret", Pagninus, Montanus; "addidit autem parere", Cocceius, Schmidt.
- again
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And she again bare his brother Abel,.
- brother
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And she again bare his brother Abel,.
Context in Genesis 4
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Genesis 4 belongs to the early movement of the book, especially the section often described as primeval history from creation to Babel. Genesis opens the whole Bible with creation, fall, flood, Babel, and the long patriarchal story that carries the reader from Eden to Egypt. Read this chapter with the wider themes of creation, fall, and covenant in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.
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A collection of passages on hope under pressure, future inheritance, resurrection expectation, and confidence in God’s final faithfulness.