Cain knew his wife: for knew in the sense of having intercourse, see verse 1. The narrator does not bother to explain how and where Cain got his wife. For conceived and bore see comments on verse 1.

And he built a city: he refers to Cain, not to Enoch. This is exceptional, since the usual pattern is to say what the son has done and to say nothing further about the father. Some scholars hold that, in the original sources used by the narrator, the building of the city was credited to Enoch. However, the translator must work from the text as we have it. The Revised Standard Version text does not indicate when it was in relation to the birth of his son that Cain built this city; but in some languages this will have to be made clear. Since the naming of the city and the naming of the child are linked, it is quite possible that Cain was in the process of building the city when his son was born; and the Hebrew allows this. Both New International Version and Revised English Bible have “… was then building a city [or, town].”

City translates one of two Hebrew terms translated “city” throughout the Old Testament. Cities in Old Testament usage were not distinguished from villages on the basis of size or population density, but rather on the presence or absence of a defensive wall. The point of the use of the word ʿir for city here is that it means a settlement surrounded by a wall. If the narrator had wished to say “village,” he could have done so. (See Fry 1979, “Cities, towns, and villages in the Old Testament.”) Apparently the narrator’s purpose is to make a distinction between the dwelling places of nomads and those of settlement farmers as a sign of advancement in civilization. The same applies in verse 22, where various occupations are said to have begun.

In modern usage distinctions between the different terms used for population centers are usually on the basis of size: hamlet, village, town, city, metropolis. On this scale Cain’s city is a “walled hamlet or village.” In many rural languages today the word for city is relatively new and can only suggest the noisy, polluted, modern city or national capital. Therefore if the local word for city is used, it may be necessary to provide a note to describe the nature of the city built by Cain. It may be better to use a general word for a center of population, the equivalent of “town” or “village” in English, with the additional information that it is “walled” if necessary. (In those parts of the world where villages are generally surrounded by a wall or strong fence, readers will assume this from the use of the term for “village.”)

Called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch: that is, “Cain named the city ‘Enoch’ after his son’s name.”

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 .