Discovery BoxGenesis 4:15-17 
Context4:15 But the Lord said to him, “All right then, 1 if anyone kills Cain, Cain will be avenged seven times as much.” 2 Then the Lord put a special mark 3 on Cain so that no one who found him would strike him down. 4 4:16 So Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and lived in the land of Nod, 5 east of Eden.
4:17 Cain had marital relations 6 with his wife, and she became pregnant 7 and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was building a city, and he named the city after 8 his son Enoch.
1 tn The Hebrew term לָכֵן (lakhen, “therefore”) in this context carries the sense of “Okay,” or “in that case then I will do this.”
2 sn The symbolic number seven is used here to emphasize that the offender will receive severe punishment. For other rhetorical and hyperbolic uses of the expression “seven times over,” see Pss 12:6; 79:12; Prov 6:31; Isa 30:26.
3 tn Heb “sign”; “reminder.” The term “sign” is not used in the translation because it might imply to an English reader that God hung a sign on Cain. The text does not identify what the “sign” was. It must have been some outward, visual reminder of Cain’s special protected status.
4 sn God becomes Cain’s protector. Here is common grace – Cain and his community will live on under God’s care, but without salvation.
5 sn The name Nod means “wandering” in Hebrew (see vv. 12, 14).
6 tn Heb “knew,” a frequent euphemism for sexual relations.
7 tn Or “she conceived.”
8 tn Heb “according to the name of.”
