Gen. 4:16 {And} (Then) Cain went {out from} (away) [(Final Nun Yod Qoph A leph Tz addi Y od Vau) Cain or Q(ah)Y(ih)N]
(from) the presence of [(Yod Nun Pe Lamed Mem) Heb. panim, face, from is M(ih)L(ih) P(uh)N(ay)I, this was first mentioned in Gen. 3:8 KJV “from the presence of” Yod Nun Pe Mem, where the Lord God was walking through the garden, associated with the Hebrew shekhinah, dwelling of God, a means of describing the visible divine presence of the LORD God, i.e. “cloud,” “pillar of cloud,”. ] the LORD (Yahweh) [(He Vau He Yod) the LORD is equivalent to IHVH or YHWH.], and dwelt [(C ap h Sh in Y od Vau)]
in the land of Nod [(Daleth (Vau vowel) Nun Final Tzaddi Resh Aleph Beth) Nod - Heb. nodh, wandering, a district eastward from Eden; the land - Heb. erets, earth, Gr. ge, or land],
{on the} east of Eden [(Final Nun Daleth Ayin Tau Mem Daleth Qoph) Eden - Heb. ‘eden, delight; east - Heb. qedem, see notes in Gen. 2:8.]
(continued Seventh Day)
Genesis 4:17 “And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded
a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.”
Gen. 4:17 {And} Cain knew [(Final Nun Yod Qoph A yin D alet h Y od Vau) Cain or Q(ah)Y(ih)N; knew is seen in Gen. 3:7 “knew” and Gen. 4:9 as “know” with the same root A yin D alet h Y od ; see previous notes in Gen. 2:9 and 3:5]
his wife [((Vau vowel) Tau Shin Aleph Tau Aleph) here ish is “wife”; see Gen. 2:24, 3:8, 3:17]; and she conceived [(Resh He Tau Vau) root H e R esh H e ; earlier in Gen 3:16 “and thy conception” Final Caph Nun Resh He Vau, or birth or travail - in the OT the Hebrew word yaladh, “to bear a child,” for toil or trouble hul, “anguish,” halah, ”to be weak or sick,” ‘amal, “toil,” ‘invan, “occupation, task”; see Gen. 4:1.], and bare (bore) [(Daleth Lamed Tau Vau)] toledhoth, from a root yalad (D aleth L amed Y od ), to beget, used always in the plural, refers to lines of descent from ancestor and occurs in Gen. 2:4 with the phrase “these are the generations of,” (NIV “this is the account of”). Earlier in Gen. 3:16 it is found as “you shall bring forth” Yod Daleth Lamed Tau, Toledhi. Same information in Gen. 4:1, 4:17.]
Enoch [(Final Caph (Vau vowel) Nun (C)Heth Tau Aleph) e’nuk, Heb. hanokh, consecrated, Gr. Henoch; H(ah)N(ah)Kh(uh); Cain’s eldest son, this is not the son of Jared in Gen. 5:18.]:
and he builded (built) [(He Nun Beth Yod He Yod Vau) root H e Y od H e in Gen. 3:22 “is become.”]
a city [(Resh Yod Ayin) A(ee)R; here is the first mention in Scripture of a city],
and called [(A leph R esh Q oph Yod Vau) call Gr. kaleo, to call, as to name a person of thing, as seen later in Gen. 2:20 the man “gave” names has the same root as “called”]
the name of the city [(Resh Yod Ayin He Final Mem Shin) name - Heb. shem, Gr. onoma], after the name of his son [((Vau vowel) Nun Beth Final Mem Shin Caph) son - Heb. ben, Gr. huios; name - Heb. shem, Gr. onoma],
Enoch [(Final Caph (Vau vowel) Nun (C)Heth) e’nuk, Heb. hanokh, consecrated, Gr. Henoch;
Ch(ah)N(ah)Kh(uh), Heb. Chanowk, khan-oke’, from Heb. chanak, khaw-nak’, properly to narrow (comp. Heb. chanaq), fig. to initiate or discipline, dedicate, train up, thus meaning initiated, Chanok, an antediluvian patriarch, Enoch.
Now regarding the line of Cain as seen in Gen. 4:17 a son named Enoch, and as seen above means initiated, which connects it to the Enoch, or “the Initiator,” who built a city named after him, which may be seen in later chapters.
As one source views this: “The naming of cities and other such landmarks in honor of individuals is very ancient, obviously. Consequently a single name might stand for a city, a river, a mountain, or a country: and in cuneiform literature it was customary to associate with any name some identifying mark or
determinative in order to let the reader know whether it was the individual himself or the city or some other feature of the landscape that was intended.
In the case where the name stands for a man, the name was preceded by the sign for man.
In the case of a city, the name was followed by little mark which has the phonetic value -ki (as seen in the figure to the left).
To my knowledge, all place names in cuneiform are followed by this determinative sign. But there is one exception, and this is the city known as "Unuk" (equated with Enoch), which later appears as "Uruk, (Ref. 2) "Warka," and finally, "Perg-", or "Purg-." For those unfamiliar with such changes, the conversion of "wark" into "purg-" follows well-established rules in the development of language and in the transfer of words between languages of a different family.”
(continued Gen. 4:17 Seventh Day)
The point here in Genesis 4:17 is that this was the first city ever to be built, and it did not therefore form one of a class requiring an identifying determinative. As other cities began to be built in the time of Cain, it seems likely that they, too, were named in honor of individuals then alive. But it would soon become apparent that the means of identification needed refining, and the determinatives would begin to be developed and applied appropriately. Yet this one city never required a determinative, being the very first one.
The word Unuk persisted for so long in history, reappearing finally in the Greek word Pergos (Perga, apparently a primary word (“burgh”) a tower or castle, a place in Asia Minor, Pergamos, fortified),which, significantly enough in the light of Genesis 11:4, means "tower." Tower, Heb. migdal, mig-dawl’, also (in plural) feminine migdalah, mig-daw-law’, from Heb. gadal, a tower (from its size or height), by analogy, a rostrum, fig. a (pyramidal) bed of flowers, castle, flower, pulpit, tower. Compare to 4024 Heb. Migdowl, mig-dole’, or Migdol, probably of Egyptian origin, Migdal, a place in Egypt, tower. The word tower is the basis of the English word town, thus the basic form purg- has come down into modern Indo-European languages in the form of burgh or the more extended form, borough, a word meaning "city" which can be traced right back to within one generation of Adam to the City which Cain built and named in honor of his son.]
(continued Seventh Day)