Bit at a Time Bible Hebrew -- Genesis 4:21-24

Genesis 4:21-24

 

כא וְשֵׁם אָחִיו יוּבָל הוּא הָיָה אֲבִי כָּל־תֹּפֵשׂ כִּנּוֹר וְעוּגָב:

כב וְצִלָּה גַם־הִוא יָלְדָה אֶת־תּוּבַל קַיִן לֹטֵשׁ כָּל־חֹרֵשׁ נְחשֶׁת וּבַרְזֶל וַאֲחוֹת תּוּבַל־קַיִן נַעֲמָה:

כג וַיֹּאמֶר לֶמֶךְ לְנָשָׁיו עָדָה וְצִלָּה שְׁמַעַן קוֹלִי נְשֵׁי לֶמֶךְ הַאֲזֵנָּה אִמְרָתִי כִּי אִישׁ הָרַגְתִּי לְפִצְעִי וְיֶלֶד לְחַבֻּרָתִי:

כד כִּי שִׁבְעָתַיִם יֻקַּם־קָיִן וְלֶמֶךְ שִׁבְעִים וְשִׁבְעָה:

 

Translation:  The name of his brothers, Yuval who was the first of all who touch harp and ugav.

Tsilah also gave birth to Tuval Qain sharpener of all tools of bronze and iron and the sister of Tuval Qain was Naamah.

Lemekh said to his wives, “Adah and Tsilah obey me, wives of Lemekh listen to what I say, if I killed a man, for my wounding, or a boy for my injury.

If shivataim were established for Qain, for Lemekh 77.

 

Vocabulary

תֹּפֵשׂ	toucher
כִּנּוֹר	harp
לֹטֵשׁ	sharpener
חֹרֵשׁ	Tool
נְחשֶׁת	Bronze, copper
בַרְזֶל	iron
הַאֲזֵנָּה	Listen to
פִצְעִי	My wounding
חַבֻּרָתִי	My injury

 

Some of you no doubt think that the word “iron” places this part of Genesis in Hittite times.  However, archaeologists have found meteoric iron that they can tell people were using, dating back to about 4000 BCE; smelted iron from the 2500s BCE; and carbon steel among the Hittites of the 1800s BCE.  The urban legend is that Torah is the oral tradition of a Bronze Age people, but now you can see that for that to be true, the ancestors of the Jews would have to have existed before 2500 BCE.  Now read the archaeology posts from the Fact Checking page…..

 

Notice that Lemekh admits killing somebody using haragti but not ratsachti.  So his story is connected to Qain in two ways, by name and by use of harag.  Three ways if you count the name Tuval Qain.

 

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