Genesis 4:25

Translations

King James Version (KJV)

And Adam knew his wife again; and she bore a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, has appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

American King James Version (AKJV)

And Adam knew his wife again; and she bore a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, has appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

American Standard Version (ASV)

And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth. For,'said she , God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel; for Cain slew him.

Basic English Translation (BBE)

And Adam had connection with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son to whom she gave the name of Seth: for she said, God has given me another seed in place of Abel, whom Cain put to death.

Webster's Revision

And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

World English Bible

Adam knew his wife again. She gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, "for God has appointed me another child instead of Abel, for Cain killed him."

English Revised Version (ERV)

And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For, said she, God hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel; for Cain slew him.

Clarke's Genesis 4:25 Bible Commentary

God - hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel - Eve must have received on this occasion some Divine communication, else how could she have known that this son was appointed in the place of Abel, to continue that holy line by which the Messiah was to come? From this we see that the line of the Messiah was determined from the beginning, and that it was not first fixed in the days of Abraham; for the promise was then only renewed, and that branch of his family designated by which the sacred line was to be continued. And it is worthy of remark, that Seth's posterity alone continued after the flood, when all the other families of the earth were destroyed, Noah being the tenth descendant from Adam through Seth.

Though all these persons are mentioned in the following chapter, I shall produce them here in the order of their succession:

1Adam;

2Seth;

3Enos;

4. Cainan;

5. Mahalaleel;

6. Jared;

7. Enoch;

8. Methuselah;

9. Lamech, (the second);

continued...

Barnes's Genesis 4:25 Bible Commentary

- XX. Sheth

25. שׁת shēt, Sheth, "placed, put."

26. אנישׁ 'enôsh, Enosh, "man, sickly." בשׁם קרא qero' beshēm means, first, to call an object by its name Isaiah 40:26; Isaiah 43:1; Isaiah 45:3-4; second, to call an object by the name of another, who is the parent, leader, husband, owner Numbers 32:42; Judges 18:29; Psalm 49:12; Isaiah 43:7; Isaiah 44:5; Isaiah 48:1; Isaiah 65:1; third, to proclaim the name of Exodus 33:19; Exodus 35:5-6; fourth, to call upon the name of God, to address him by his proper name with an audible voice in the form of prayer. This is the most common meaning of the phrase. In this sense it is followed by Yahweh as the proper name of the true God among the Hebrews. It is not to be forgotten that names were still significant, at this early period.

This passage completes the account of Adam's family. Henceforth, we generally meet with two parallel lines of narrative, as the human family is divided into two great branches, with opposing interests and tendencies. The main line refers to the remnant of the race that are on terms of open reconciliation with God; while a collateral line notes as far as necessary the state of those who have departed from the knowledge and love of the true God.

Genesis 4:25

The narrative here reverts to a point subsequent to the death of Habel, when another son is born to Adam, whom his mother Eve regards as a substitute for Habel, and names Sheth in allusion to that circumstance. She is in a sadder, humbler frame than when she named her first-born, and therefore does not employ the personal name of the Lord. Yet her heart is not so much downcast as when she called her second son a breath. Her faith in God is sedate and pensive, and hence she uses the more distant and general term אלהים 'ĕlohı̂ym, God.

Yet there is a special significance in the form of expression she employs. "For God" hath given me another seed instead of Habel. He is to be instead of Habel, and God-fearing like Habel. Far above this consideration, God hath given him. This son is from God. She regards him as God's son. She receives this gift from God, and in faith expects him to be the seed of God, the parent of a godly race. Her faith was not disappointed. His descendants earn the name of the sons of God. As the ungodly are called the seed of the serpent, because they are of his spirit, so the godly are designated the seed of God, because they are of God's Spirit. The Spirit of God strives and rules in them, and so they are, in the graphic language of Scripture, the sons of God Genesis 6:1.

Wesley's Genesis 4:25 Bible Commentary

4:25 This is the first mention of Adam in the story of this chapter. No question the murder of Abel, and the impenitency and apostacy of Cain, were a very great grief to him and Eve, and the more because their own wickedness did now correct them, and their backsliding did reprove them. Their folly had given sin and death entrance into the world, and now they smarted by it, being by means thereof deprived of both their sons in one day, Genesis 27:45. When parents are grieved by their children's wickedness, they should take occasion from thence to lament that corruption of nature which was derived from them, and which is the root of bitterness. But here we have that which was a relief to our first parents in their affliction, namely, God gave them to see the rebuilding of their family which was sorely shaken and weakened by that sad event. For, they saw their seed, another instead of Abel.

And Adam called his name Seth — That is, Set, settled or placed, because in his seed mankind should continue to the end of time.