What Does Genesis 4:23 Mean?
And Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, hear and respond to my voice. Wives of Lamech, give ear to my speech. For I have killed a man for my wound, and a young man for my bruise.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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.THE KEY
Lamech turns a wound into a warrant for killing, then repeats the claim in a parallel line until retaliation sounds like a rule.
THE MEANING
In this voice, injury becomes the warrant for killing: a man for a wound, a young man for a bruise. The parallel clauses make retaliation sound measured, while the repeated claim exposes how quickly hurt can become lethal. The demand to hear turns violence into a declaration with witnesses.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that injury makes killing proportionate: the verse places a wound and a bruise beside death, exposing the excess inside the claimed repayment.
THE ROOT
הָרַגְתִּי
haragtî
GROWS FROM
הרג
h-r-g
Kill, slay.
The verb comes from the same root as Cain’s killing of Abel in Genesis 4:8. English renders the earlier act “slew” and this one “slain,” while Hebrew carries one killing root from the first death into Lamech’s account.
ALSO GROWS
harag: To kill, to slay.
הָרַג
This is the verb root in Lamech’s claim and in the account of Cain killing Abel.
horeg: A killer; one who kills.
הֹרֵג
This form names the agent of the same action, keeping the act and the one who commits it together.
פִצְעִי
pətsʿî
GROWS FROM
פצע
p-ts-ʿ
Wound, injure.
“My wound” comes from the root that also names the act of wounding, so injury is not an abstract grievance here. Paired with “my hurt,” it supplies Lamech’s stated cause while his verb names death as the reply.
ALSO GROWS
petsa: A wound or injury.
פֶּצַע
This noun is the injury Lamech gives as the reason for killing.
patsua: Wounded, injured.
פָּצוּעַ
This form describes someone bearing the wound, bringing the root’s bodily consequence into view.
הַאֲזֵנָּה
ha'azennah
GROWS FROM
אזן
ʾ-z-n
Ear; by extension, to give ear or listen.
“give ear” in this verse is ha'azennah. The verse doubles its summons: “hear my voice” and then “hearken unto my speech.” The second verb is built from the word for ear, making the wives’ role as listeners part of how Lamech stages his account.
ALSO GROWS
ʾozen: Ear.
אֹזֶן
This noun is the concrete body part inside the verb translated “hearken.”
heʾezin: To give ear, listen attentively.
הֶאֱזִין
This related verb shows that Lamech’s second summons asks for focused attention to his words.
THE PATTERN
When an injury becomes a warrant for vengeance, the response can multiply far beyond the original wound.
If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy and sevenfold.And if a man sets a blemish in his neighbor, as he has done, so shall it be done to him. Break for break, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has set a blemish in a man, so shall it be set upon him.Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but give room to wrath. For it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will give back, says the LORD.THE THREAD
And Cain said to Abel his brother. And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.The Hebrew root הרג (h-r-g, kill) appears in both Cain’s “slew” and Lamech’s “slain.” It carries the first killing into Lamech’s voice, where death is recast as repayment for injury.
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