Kejadian 4:15

4:15 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 

Kejadian 7:2-4

7:2 You must take with you seven ⁵  of every kind of clean animal, ⁶  the male and its mate, ⁷  two of every kind of unclean animal, the male and its mate, 7:3 and also seven ⁸  of every kind of bird in the sky, male and female, ⁹  to preserve their offspring ¹⁰  on the face of the earth. 7:4 For in seven days ¹¹  I will cause it to rain ¹²  on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the ground every living thing that I have made.”

[4:15]  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.”

[4:15]  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.

[4:15]  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.

[4:15]  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.

[7:2]  ⁵ tn Or “seven pairs” (cf. NRSV).

[7:2]  ⁶ sn For a study of the Levitical terminology of “clean” and “unclean,” see L. E. Toombs, IDB 1:643.

[7:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “a male and his female” (also a second time at the end of this verse). The terms used here for male and female animals (אִישׁ, ’ish) and אִשָּׁה, ’ishah) normally refer to humans.

[7:3]  ⁸ tn Or “seven pairs” (cf. NRSV).

[7:3]  ⁹ tn Here (and in v. 9) the Hebrew text uses the normal generic terms for “male and female” (זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה, zakhar unÿqevah).

[7:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to keep alive offspring.”

[7:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for seven days yet,” meaning “after [or “in”] seven days.”

[7:4]  ¹² tn The Hiphil participle מַמְטִיר (mamtir, “cause to rain”) here expresses the certainty of the act in the imminent future.