One Name, Two Roads
The Claim, Straight
Genesis names two different men Lamech, in two unrelated family lines, one chapter apart. One boasts about killing. The other names a baby who becomes a byword for comfort.
Same name, worn twice. This page keeps the two men - and their two very different last recorded words - straight.
What the Text Says
The first Lamech, in Cain's line, speaks to his own wives with a boast:
"And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold."GENESIS 4:23–24 · KJV
The second Lamech, in Seth's line, speaks once - naming his own newborn son:
"And Lamech lived an hundred eighty and two years, and begat a son: And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed."GENESIS 5:28–29 · KJV
That baby is Noah.
The Turn
These two Lamechs sit at different distances from Adam in their own genealogies. Counting Adam as the first name in each line:
Same name, two unrelated family trees, two different positions in the count.
The Fine Print
CAVEATTwo different men, same name, in two unrelated genealogies - the same kind of duplication Genesis already has with two men named Enoch (Genesis 4:17 and Genesis 5:21-24), already flagged in "The Fall and the First Murder."
CAVEATGenesis 5:29's own reason for the name Noah - "because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed" - points straight back to Genesis 3:17's curse. The text supplies its own reason; nothing here is invented.
CAVEAT"Vengeance" and "comfort" are this page's own shorthand for two different speeches. Neither text cross-references the other Lamech directly.
Questions People Ask
Are there two men named Lamech in the Bible?
COMPUTEDYes - two different men, in two unrelated genealogies. One is in Cain's line, seventh from Adam (Genesis 4:17-18); the other is in Seth's line, ninth from Adam, and is Noah's own father (Genesis 5:25-31).
Which Lamech is Noah's father?
TEXTThe Lamech in Seth's line, at Genesis 5:28-31 - not the Lamech in Cain's line from Genesis 4. This Lamech names his son Noah, stating his own reason: "because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed" (Genesis 5:29).
What did Lamech's boast in Genesis 4 say?
TEXT"If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold" (Genesis 4:24) - Cain's-line Lamech boasting to his own wives about avenging himself, a very different last recorded word from Seth's-line Lamech's naming speech for Noah.
Sources Cited
- Genesis 4:23-24, King James Version: "And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt. If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold." This Lamech is the seventh name from Adam in Cain's line (Genesis 4:17-18).
- Genesis 5:28-29, King James Version: "And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed." This Lamech is the ninth name from Adam through Seth (Genesis 5:3-25) - a separate genealogy, same name.
- Genesis 3:17, King James Version - the ground-curse Genesis 5:29 points back to, already quoted in "The Fall and the First Murder."