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Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary

Genesis 4:2

Abel signifies vanity, a vain, mortal, miserable man, whereas she thought Cain to be more than an ordinary man; or this name might prophetically design his miserable life, and untimely and unnatural death. To till the ground was esteemed a more honourable calling than that of a shepherd, and therefore either chosen by the elder brother, or allotted to him by his father.

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See also Genesis 4:2 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Genesis 4:2. _AND SHE AGAIN BARE HIS BROTHER ABEL._] Literally, _She_ _added to bear_ (ותסף ללדת vattoseph laledeth) _his brother_. From the very face of this account it appears evident that Ca...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    - Section IV - The Family of Adam - Cain and Abel 1. קין _qayı̂n_, Qain (Cain), “spear-shaft,” and קנה _qānah_, “set up, establish, gain, buy,” contain the biliteral root קן _qan_, “set up, erect, g...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 4 After the Fall and the Two Seeds _ 1. Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1)_ 2. Their offerings (Genesis 4:3) 3. The divine remonstrance (Genesis 4:6) 4. Abel slain by his brother ...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    The Story of Cain and Abel. This belongs to the J cycle of stories, but apparently not to the same stratum as Genesis 4:3, for it is assumed that the earth has a population from which Cain fears venge...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    ABEL. = transitoriness....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _Abel_ Heb. _Hebel_= "breath," or "vapour," a name suggestive of fleeting life, cf. Job 7:16. No better explanation of the name is given. Assyriologists have suggested that the name reproduces the Ass...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    ABEL— This word signifies _vanity._ Calmet says, that Eve having observed in the conduct of Cain that he was not the deliverer which she imagined, gave to her second son a name which might denote the...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    PART SEVENTEEN THE BEGINNING OF TRUE RELIGION (Genesis 4:1-15) 1. _Preliminary Definitions_ It is doubtful that there is a more ambiguous word in our language today than the word religion. It has li...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    _AND SHE AGAIN BARE HIS BROTHER ABEL. AND ABEL WAS A KEEPER OF SHEEP, BUT CAIN WAS A TILLER OF THE GROUND._ And she again bare his brother Abel - Hebrew, 'she added to bear.' "Abel," or, according to...

  • Darby's translation notes (1890)

    4:2 Abel. (b-7) Heb. _ Hebel_ , a breath (Job 7:16 ); or 'vanity' (Psalms 144:4 ). shepherd, (c-12) Lit. 'herdsman of small cattle.' husbandman. (d-17) Lit. 'worked the ground.'...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    CAIN AND ABEL. THE DESCENDANTS OF CAIN The narrative, which forms part of the Primitive document, impressively shows how sin, having once appeared, became hereditary in the human race, and speedily de...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    ABEL] perhaps from the Assyrian _ahlu,_ 'a son.' Here it may be connected with Heb. _hebel_, 'a breath,' a fitting name for one whose life was so brief: see on Genesis 4:1....

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    GOD’S ANCIENT PEOPLE GENESIS _ALUN OWEN_ CHAPTER 4 CAIN KILLS ABEL V1 Adam had sex with his wife Eve and she became *pregnant. Her son Cain was born. She said, ‘I have gained a man by the *Lord’...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    ABEL. — Of this name Dr. Oppert imagined that it was the Assyrian _Abil,_ a son. Really it is _Hebel;_ and there is no reason why we should prefer an Assyrian to a Hebrew etymology. An Accadian deriva...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    וַ תֹּ֣סֶף לָ לֶ֔דֶת אֶת ־אָחִ֖יו אֶת

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CAIN AND ABEL Genesis 4:1 IT is not the purpose of this narrator to write the history of the world. It is not his purpose to write even the history of mankind. His object is to write the history of r...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    OFFERINGS BY CAIN AND ABEL Genesis 3:22; Genesis 4:1 It was good that man should be driven from Eden. Soft comfort enervates. The natives of the South Sea Islands are moral pulp. Man goes forth from...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    The degeneration of the first man and woman was transmitted, the firstborn being manifestly an inheritor of the fallen nature of his parents. His mother named him Cain, intimating a hope that the seed...

  • Gary Hampton Commentaries

    Even though Adam and Eve had sinned and been driven out of the garden, there were moments of joy. Eve conceived and bore Cain. She said, "I have gotten a man from the Lord" (Genesis 4:1). Her statemen...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And if, by the name of Abel, which signifies vanity, Our first mother meant, that his birth w...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    There is one characteristic of divine revelation to which attention may be profitably called as a starting point. We have to do with facts. The Bible alone is a revelation of facts, and, we can add (n...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    2._And she again bare his brother Abel _(226) It is well known whence the name of Cain is deduced, and for what reason it was given to him. For his mother said, קניתי (_kaniti_,) I have gotten a man;...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    But grace could work. The grace of a God above the evil of man, and Abel approaches Him by faith. Hereon follows the separation of the families of God and of the enemy, of the world and of faith. Abel...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    AND SHE AGAIN BARE HIS BROTHER ABEL,.... Or "added to bare" y, not directly or immediately, but perhaps the following year; though some have thought, because no mention is made of her conceiving again...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Adam and Eve had many _sons and daughters, Genesis 5:4_: but Cain and Abel seem to have been the two eldest. Cain signifies _possession;_ for Eve, when she bare him, said, with joy, and thankfulness,...

  • KJV Original Language Details

    1 The birth, trade, and religion of Cain and Abel. 8 The murder of Abel. 9 The curse of Cain. 17 Enoch the first citie. 19 Lamech and his two wiues. 25 The birth of Seth, 26 and Enos. 1 AND Ada...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    And she again bare his brother Abel. This was her second child, her second son, whose name Abel (vanity) indicates that she was feeling the vanity of this earthly life and hoped all the more eagerly f...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    The Offerings of Cain and Abel...

  • Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures

    SECOND SECTION _Cain and Abel. The Cainites. The ungodly Worldliness of the First Civilization._ GENESIS 4:1-26 1And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived, and bare Cain [the gotten, or possessi...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    CAIN AND ABEL Adam and Eve, having acquired a sinful nature, could only communicate the same nature to their children. Their firstborn was named Cain, which means "smith" or "fabricator," one who plan...

  • Marginal Notes in the King James Version (1611)

    ABEL: _ Heb._ Hebel KEEPER: _ Heb._ a feeder...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    1-7 When Cain was born, Eve said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. Perhaps she thought that this was the promised seed. If so, she was wofully disappointed. Abel signifies vanity: when she thought...

  • Notes on the Pentateuch by Charles Henry Mackintosh

    & Genesis 5:1-32 As each section of the Book of Genesis opens before us, we are furnished with fresh evidence of the fact that we are travelling over, what a recent writer has well termed, "the seed-...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Genesis 4:2 bore H3205 (H8800) again H3254 (H8686) brother H251 Abel H1893 Abel H1893 keeper H7462 ...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    ‘And again she bore his brother Abel (Hebel). And Abel was a keeper of sheep while Cain was a worker of the ground.' Abel was a keeper of ‘sheep' (the word strictly means what we might call ‘small cat...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    THE STORY OF CAIN AND ABEL (GENESIS 4:1 TO GENESIS 5:1 A). Genesis 4:1. The Sin of Cain TABLET III It is quite clear that this section once existed separately from Genesis 2-3. The immediate and last...

  • Scofield's Bible Commentary

    ABEL Abel ("exhalation," or, "that which ascends") is a type of the spiritual man. His sacrifice, in which atoning blood was shed (Hebrews 9:22) was therefore at once his confession of sin and the ex...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Genesis 4 I. From the story of Cain we gather the following thoughts: I. Eve's disappointment at the birth of Cain should be a warning to all mothers. Over-estimate of children may be traced somet...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: First sons of Adam, Cain and Abel. Murder of Abel. First civilization. Birth of Seth. CHARACTERS: Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Seth. CONCLUSION: Attainment can never take the place of Atonement....

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Genesis 4:1. _I have gotten._ קניתי _kaniti,_ from the root _kana,_ he possessed. The LXX have betrayed their ignorance of the Eternal Word, or Wisdom, by frequently rendering this word _created._ God...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground_ THE STORY OF CAIN AND ABEL I. RELIGION ACTUATED MEN IN THE VERY EARLIEST TIMES. II. THE MERE NATURAL RELIGION IS ESSENTIALLY DEFECT...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    GENESIS—NOTE ON GENESIS 4:2 The fact that God HAD REGARD FOR ABEL AND HIS OFFERING, but not for Cain, does not mean that shepherds are better than farmers or that animal offerings are better than plan...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    CRITICAL NOTES.— Genesis 4:1. Gotten a man from the Lord.] Or, perhaps, “Gotten a man, even Jehovah.” The rendering of the A. V. is no doubt the one more generally followed. Leeser and Murphy have, “f...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION GENESIS 4:1 Exiled from Eden, o'er, canopied by grace, animated by hope, assured of the Divine forgiveness, and filled with a sweet peace, the first pair enter on their life experience of...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Lets turn to Genesis Chapter four. Adam and Eve have been expelled from the Garden of Eden because of their disobedience to God. And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Abel. Heb. Hebel. And Abel. Genesis 30:29 Genesis 37:13 Genesis 46:32 Genesis 47:3...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    SEEING CHRIST IN CAIN AND ABEL Genesis 4:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS 1. Cain and Abel came by natural generation. The only human beings God ever created were Adam and Eve. They were created with the power...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    CAIN AND ABEL Genesis 4:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS It falls to our lot to connect the links between our last study and today's. 1. WE HAVE ADAM NAMING HIS WIFE, "EVE." Here is the Scripture: "And Adam ca...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    Abel signifies vanity. The name given to this son is put upon the whole race, Psalms 39:5. Every man is at his best estate vanity; Abel, vanity. He chose that employment which did most befriend contem...

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