Encyclopedia entry
Lamech
Disambiguation
The source enumerates 2 distinct subjects under Lamech. Jump to one below, or read in order.
The strikerdown; the wild man.
Lamech (1)
#The fifth in descent from Cain. He was the first to violate the primeval ordinance of marriage (Gen. 4:18-24). His address to his two wives, Adah and Zillah (4:23, 24), is the only extant example of antediluvian poetry. It has been called “Lamech’s sword-song.” He was “rude and ruffianly,” fearing neither God nor man. With him the curtain falls on the race of Cain. We know nothing of his descendants.
Lamech (2)
#The seventh in descent from Seth, being the only son of Methuselah. Noah was the oldest of his several sons (Gen. 5:25-31; Luke 3:36).
Also from Smith's (1884) +−
(powerful), properly Lemech.
The fifth lineal descendant from Cain. (Genesis 4:18-24) He is the only one except Enoch, of the posterity of Cain, whose history is related with some detail. His two wives, Adah and Zillah, and his daughter Naamah, are, with Eve, the only antediluvian women whose names are mentioned by Moses. His three sons, Jabal, Jubal and Tubal-cain, are celebrated in Scripture as authors of useful inventions. The remarkable poem which Lamech uttered may perhaps be regarded as Lamech’s son of exultation on the invention of the sword by his son Tubal-cain, in the possession of which he foresaw a great advantage to himself and his family over any enemies. The father of Noah. (Genesis 5:29)
In the Bible
11
Verses where Lamech is named. Berean Standard Bible (public domain).
- 1 Chronicles 1:3
Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah.
- Genesis 4:18
Now to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methusael, and Methusael was the father of Lamech.
- Genesis 4:19
And Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah.
- Genesis 4:23
Then Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, listen to my speech. For I have slain a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me.
- Genesis 4:24
If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”
- Genesis 5:25
When Methuselah was 187 years old, he became the father of Lamech.
+5 more verses naming Lamech.
Scripture on Lamech
4
Entries that reference Lamech
12
Lamech references
17
Sources · Hitchcock's Bible Names (1869) · Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884)
Public-domain text. Modernized only where archaic spelling impedes reading; original facts preserved. Verify against an authoritative modern reference before quoting.