Zillah bore Tubalcain: the name Tubalcain (note different spelling in Good News Translation and New International Version) has been the subject of much discussion. The word cain may refer to the craft of the blacksmith or metal worker.

He was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron: New English Bible has “the master of all coppersmiths and blacksmiths,” New Jerusalem Bible “the master of all who work copper and iron.” In the history of the discovery of metals and the smelting of ores, the use of copper is the oldest, and the use of iron came much later. The narrator never bothers to mention the much older Stone Age, and he is not concerned with the great amount of time separating the use of copper or bronze and the ability to make and use iron.

Forger translates a word meaning “hammerer or sharpener.” Good News Translation says descriptively “who made all kinds of tools.” According to Hebrew Old Testament Text Project the meaning is “a forger [literally hammerer] of cutting [tools] of bronze or iron.” Bronze is a metal alloy made from copper mixed with tin. (The same Hebrew word is used for both copper and bronze.) Most languages have terms for the metals bronze and iron; however, they may be borrowed words or descriptive terms such as “red metal” for copper and “brown metal” for bronze, and in some areas the word “brass” is used to refer to a range of metals other than iron. Today iron is so universally known that it is often called “metal.” Many existing translations render this whole expression “a man who made all kinds of things from brass and iron.”

The sister of Tubalcain was Naamah: it is assumed that she was the oldest daughter. In many languages there are special terms for the oldest daughter and oldest sister. Naamah means “pleasant or gracious.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .