The report of Lamech. Unlike the reports on the other fathers (but similar in part to the report on Adam), the text reports that he became the father of a son.

And called his name Noah: here in verse 29 is the second case in which it is stated that the father gives the son a name, the first being Adam in Gen 5.3. The name Noah sounds like the Hebrew word for “rest,” “relief,” “comfort.” See Good News Translation footnote.

Out of the ground which the LORD has cursed relates Noah’s life to the curse of the ground in 3.17. See there for comments on curse. Out of the ground or “from the very ground” (Good News Translation) suggests the source of the relief, rest, comfort that Noah will bring to others. There are two major understandings of this thought:
(1) That Noah will originate a new era in which the earth will not again be cursed because of sin, as explained in 8.21

or
(2) that Noah, who is the first tiller of the soil and who planted a vineyard (9.20-21), will introduce wine-making and thus give comfort and relief from hard work through the drinking of wine. Other passages that refer to wine in this connection are Judges 9.13; Psa 104.15; Pro 31.6-7.

This one refers to the newborn child Noah and may be rendered “this child,” as in Good News Translation.

Bring us relief: the plural us represents Lamech speaking for himself, those who lived when he did, and his descendants. The pronoun is inclusive, since Lamech includes those he is addressing, along with himself. The Hebrew word translated relief is nachem and Noah is noach, but the verb is not historically the origin of the name. Translators should consider giving a footnote for “Noah.” See Good News Translation. Bring … relief means “to give us rest,” “to enable us to be comforted,” “to make us feel refreshed.” In some languages this is expressed as “let us take it easy a little…” or “let us have a little spell….”

From our work and from the toil of our hands are parallel expressions in which the second part repeats the thought of the first part in a fuller way. Good News Translation has reduced this parallelism to “from all our hard work.” Work translates a very general word, while toil renders a word meaning to shape or fashion, a particular way of working with the hands.

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 .