Billeder på siden
PDF
ePub

wert formed, so now thou art in the state of certain mortality, and to dust shalt thou return.

III. 20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

And Adam, now looking for that perpetuity in his seed, which he saw he could not have in himself, called his wife's name, Hevah, because she was and should be the mother of all living men, the posterity whereof he saw would be large and manifold.

III. 21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

And God the Lord, partly for wholesomeness of body, and partly to put them in mind of their corruption which had made nakedness shameful, prepared skins for Adam and Eve; and taught them, both to fashion those skins into garments whereby their whole bodies might be covered, and also to put them on.

III. 22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: Then the Lord God, upbraiding man with his folly, said; See now, how well Satan hath performed his promise to man: Is he not, think you, become like one of us? Hath he not gained a goodly measure of knowledge, both of good and evil? And now, heed must be taken, lest he should farther profane the sacrament of that other Tree of Life; and double his sin, by hoping as vainly, to obtain an eternal life, by the fruit thereof, as he hoped for the perfection of knowledge by the other:

III. 23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

Therefore the Lord forced man to go forth of the garden of pleasure, as being unworthy to abide in so goodly a place any more; and set him to till the other baser earth, whence he was taken.

III. 24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims, and a flaming sword, which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

And when God had thus, in disgrace, cast man out of paradise, that he might utterly cut off all hope of his return, he placed on the east side of Eden, where the entrance was, angels with flaming swords, continually shaken, to be guarders thereof; which, until the defacing thereof by the flood, duly kept it from all possibility of re-entering; as in regard of the whole garden, so especially of the Tree of Life, which God would not have touched by man, this estate of his corruption.

in

IV. 1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. Then Adam, after his banishment out of paradise, had carnal knowledge of Evah his wife; which conceived and bare a son, whom she, acknowledging the performance of God's promise and blessing, called Cain, that is, Possession; because, said she, I have obtained a man, even after my fall, by the gift of the Lord.

IV. 4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering.

And Abel also himself brought of the first fruits of his flock, and of the fattest and best of them, with a faithful and cheerful heart; and the Lord shewed, by some visible testimony, that he did graciously accept both Abel's person and offering.

IV. 5 And Cain was exceeding wroth, and his countenance fell. And Cain was exceedingly moved with anger and envy, against God and his brother; and bewrayed extreme discontentment in his countenance, which was now churlish and dejected.

IV. 7 If thou do well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou dost not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

If thou do well, and offer in faith, is there any doubt, but thou shalt be accepted, as well as thy brother? but if thou do amiss, both the conscience of thy sin shall be ever ready to afflict and torment thee, and the due revenge of sin shall continually wait upon thee: and, as for thy brother, there is no cause of heartburning towards him; for, both by nature and his own will, he is subject unto thee, and thou, as the elder brother, mayest command him.

IV. 9 Am I my brother's keeper?

Am I to wait upon my younger brother, or should not he rather attend upon me? Why shouldest thou ask an account of him from

me?

IV. 10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.

Again, God said, What villainy is this, that thou hast done? Behold, how silent soever thou be in the confession of thy sin, the blood of thy brother, which thou hast shed, cries loud in my ears, out of the earth, for vengeance against thee.

IV. 11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which, &c. Now, therefore, cursed be thou, both in thy pains which thou bestowest upon the ground, and in thy flight from this earth which hath, &c.

IV. 12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

And wheresoever thou shalt bestow thy pains in tilling the ground, it shall not henceforth yield thee her wonted increase; neither shalt thou be able to settle thyself any where: for thine unquiet conscience shall not suffer thee to rest, but shall drive thee from place to place, so as thou shalt be a miserable vagabond and runagate in the earth.

IV. 13 And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.

Then Cain said unto the Lord, Alas, how shall I abide this curse? The punishment, which thou inflictest upon me, is intolerable.

IV. 14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face

of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.

For, behold, thou castest me out of this earth, and out of thy protection and grace, wherein alone is all safety; and I, driven with the horrors of my own conscience, shall be a vagrant and runagate upon earth, I know not whither; and whosoever findeth me, though of mine own loins, shall kill me, as I have done my brother.

IV. 15 And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

Then the Lord said unto him, Fear not this danger of thy death. I would have it the chief part of thy punishment to live long and miserable, for fearful example unto others: whosoever therefore shall kill Cain, though so bloody a murtherer, he shall be punished by many degrees more severely than Cain himself, for the blood of his brother. And God set a visible and conspicuous mark upon the body of Cain, that whosoever met him might hereby be warned, not to lay hands upon him, notwithstanding his just desert of death.

IV. 16 Then Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

Then Cain was shut out from the protection of God, and that place where were visible signs of God's presence and means of his worship; and dwelt, after his uncertain and wandering manner, in that land, which was afterwards, from his aberration, called the land of Nod, toward the East side of Eden.

IV. 23 And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. And Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah: What tell you me of any dangers and fears? Hear my voice, O ye faint-hearted wives of Lamech, and hearken to my speech; I pass not of the strength of any adversary: for I know my own valour and power to revenge; if any man give me but a wound or a stroke, though he be never so young and lusty, I can, and will kill him dead.

IV. 24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

And if the murtherer of Cain shall find it avenged upon him sevenfold, how then shall the violence offered to Lamech escape the revenge of seventy times sevenfold?

IV. 26 Then began men to call upon the name of the LORD. Then, after all the dissoluteness and profaneness of Cain's posterity, men began to gather themselves into congregations for public service of God, and to make open and solemn profession of religion.

V. 1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him.

This is the roll or catalogue of the generations of Adam. In that sixth day, wherein God created man, he made him after his own image, in holiness and righteousness.

V. 3 And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his own image, and called his name Seth.

And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, when, in the ordinary course of generation, he begot a son, in the same state of corruption and mortality, wherein himself was after his fall; and he called his name Seth.

V. 24 And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him,

And Enoch acknowledged the Lord in all his ways, and studied in all his life to approve himself to God, having his affections and conversation above: therefore he had no more being upon earth: for God took him from amongst men; and, in no ordinary manner, translated both his body and soul into his glory.

V. 29 And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.

And called his name Noah; because of the consolation, which should arise from that rest, which the world should enjoy through him: saying, whether by revelation from God, or upon the confidence of his good hope, This same shall, by the blessing wherewith his justice shall be rewarded, comfort us, concerning that toil and sorrow, which our sins have procured; and this earth, which the Lord hath cursed for our iniquities, shall, through his holiness and integrity, in some measure, recover her strength, and yield due increase,

VI. 1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

So when the world began to be much peopled, both of men and

women,

VI. 2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. Then even the professors of religion of the seed of the righteous Seth and Enoch, saw the daughters of the profane and godless generation of Cain and Lamech, that they were fair; and, being overtaken with their beauty, yielded so much to their lust, that, without all respect had to religion and godliness, they matched themselves carelessly in marriage with them.

VI. 3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be a hundred and twenty years.

Therefore, the Lord decreed thus with himself: I have used means enough to have reclaimed the world from their wickedness: I have taught, admonished, threatened them: all this prevails not. I will no more strive with the perverseness of man, in this kind: for, when I have all done, they are still but carnal; I will therefore

set him a stint of years, before his common destruction. Unless, therefore, within a hundred and twenty years he repent him of his sins, I will then surely destroy him.

VI. 4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty. men which were of old, men of renown.

In those days, were men, monstrous both in stature and conditions and not the parents only, but their children; for after that the seed of the righteous had thus lawlessly joined themselves with the daughters of the wicked, and they had borne them children, even these also were men of the same hugeness and disposition, which were in those past ages much spoken of for their strength and tyranny.

VI. 6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

Then God, like as a man that repenteth him of his work, purposeth to undo that which he hath wrought, by the effect seemed to our weakness, as if he repented him of man's creation, in that he now determined to destroy him, whom he had made, and now was both grievously displeased with their sins, and yet loth to revenge.

VI. 11 The earth also was corrupt before God.

Then, not only the men, but the very earth itself was defiled with their abominations, in the presence of God.

VI. 14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. Make thee, by the help of workmen, an ark of the tallest pine or cedar trees, framed and planed for that purpose: thou shalt make many several partitions in the ark, and shalt cause it to be pitched within and without.

VI. 15 And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: the length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.

And this shall be the proportion, wherein thou shalt make it; the length thereof shall be three hundred of the largest cubits, such as the tall stature of men in thy age affordeth; and the breadth fifty of the same cubits, so as the length may be six times the breadth, and ten times the height.

VI. 16 A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.

Thou shalt make a clear light of windows in the ark; and, in the space of a cubit above them, shall be the rising of the roof thereof: the door of the ark shalt thou make in the one side thereof, not in either of the ends; and thou shalt frame it in three lofts, or floors, one above another.

VII. 1 And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy

« ForrigeFortsæt »