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LXX Genesis

Septuagint

About this book
Chapter 4

1 And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and brought forth Cain and said, I have gained a man through God.⁠ 2 And she again bore his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. 3 And it was so after some time that Cain brought of the fruits of the earth a sacrifice to the Lord. 4 And Abel also brought of the first born of his sheep and of his fatlings, and God looked upon Abel and his gifts,⁠ 5 but Cain and his sacrifices he did not regard, and Cain was exceedingly sorrowful and his face fell. 6 And the Lord God said to Cain, Why have you become very sorrowful and why is your face fallen? 7 Have you not sinned if you have brought it rightly, but not rightly divided it? be still,⁠ to you shall be his submission, and you shall rule over him.⁠ 8 And Cain said to Abel his brother,⁠ Let us go out into the plain; and it happened that when they were in the plain Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and killed him.⁠ 9 And God said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? and he said, I do not know, am I my brother's keeper? 10 And God said, What have you done? the voice of your brother's blood cries to me out of the ground. 11 And now you are cursed from the earth which has opened her mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12 When you till the earth, then it shall not continue to give its strength to you: you shall be groaning and trembling on the earth. 13 And Cain said to the Lord, My crime is too great for me to be forgiven.⁠ 14 If you cast me out this day from the face of the earth, and I shall be hidden from your presence, and I shall be groaning and trembling upon the earth, then it will be that any one that finds me shall kill me. 15 And the Lord God said to him, Not so, any one that kills Cain shall suffer sevenfold vengeance; and the Lord God set a mark upon Cain that no one that found him might kill him. 16 So Cain went forth from the presence of God and lived in the land of Nod over against Eden. 17 And Cain knew his wife, and having conceived she bore Enoch; and he built a city; and he named the city after the name of his son, Enoch. 18 And to Enoch was born Irad; and Irad fathered Mehujael; and Mehujael fathered Methuselah; and Methuselah fathered Lamech. 19 And Lamech took to himself two wives; the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the second Zillah. 20 And Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those that dwell in tents, feeding cattle. 21 And the name of his brother was Jubal; he it was who invented the lute and harp. 22 And Zillah also bore Tubal; he was a smith, a manufacturer both of brass and iron; and the sister of Tubal was Naamah. 23 And Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice, you wives of Lamech, consider my words, because I have killed a man to my sorrow and a youth to my grief. 24 Because vengeance has been exacted seven times on Cain's behalf, on Lamech's it shall be seventy times seven.⁠ 25 And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore a son, and called his name Seth, saying, For God has raised up to me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain killed. 26 And Seth had a son, and he called his name Enosh: he hoped to call on the name of the Lord God.⁠

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How Jesus Inverts Lamech's Revenge into Forgiveness

Septuagint · New Testament

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Summary

In Matthew 18, Jesus answers with “seventy-seven times” when speaking about forgiveness, echoing Genesis where Lamech describes revenge. Matthew may be intentionally showing Jesus inverting exaggeration about revenge with exaggeration about forgiveness.

Passages

LXX Genesis 4:24

Septuagint
22 And Zillah also bore Tubal; he was a smith, a manufacturer both of brass and iron; and the sister of Tubal was Naamah. 23 And Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice, you wives of Lamech, consider my words, because I have killed a man to my sorrow and a youth to my grief. 24 Because vengeance has been exacted seven times on Cain's behalf, on Lamech's it shall be seventy times seven. 25 And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore a son, and called his name Seth, saying, For God has raised up to me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain killed.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Genesis

Matthew 18:21

New Testament
20 For where two or three are assembled in my name, I am there among them.” 21 Then Peter came to him and said, “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother who sins against me? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, I tell you, but seventy-seven times! 23 “For this reason, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves.
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

References

"... Jesus’ hyperbolic reply to Peter’s query requires additional comment. To Peter’s query whether to forgive a fellow disciple’s sins seven times is generous, Jesus offers a hyperbolic response, “I do not say up to seven times, but up to seventy-seven times.” Though Peter may seem magnanimous compared to a stingier standard of forgiveness the rabbis taught, his big-heartedness falls short of the lavishness Jesus requires. It is likely that Peter derives his number from Scripture’s frequent use of “seven times” for avenging evildoers, first with reference to the Lord’s protecting the life of Cain by threatening sevenfold avenging of anyone who would slay him (Genesis 4:15; Leviticus 26:21, 28; Deuteronomy 28:25; Psalm 79:12; Proverbs 6:31; compare Luke 17:4). If this is correct, then Jesus’ reply may allude to Genesis 4:24, to Lamech’s use of seventy-seven times. Lamech appeals to lex talionis to reason that if Cain, who murdered his brother out of malice, could be avenged sevenfold, then his own avengement ought to be seventy-sevenfold, an exaggerated number, because he killed in self-defense. Likewise, Jesus exaggerates Peter’s number, to emphasize that remission is boundless ..."
Ardel B. Caneday, “Lavishly Forgive Sins in order to Be Forgiven: Jesus’ Parable of the Unmerciful Servant,” The Evangelical Review of Theology and Politics 5 (2017): 17–32.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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LXX Genesis 4:24 and Matthew 18:21

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