Genesis 4: the two brothers, the two lines, and calling on the name (overview)

Says Genesis 4 tells how Adam and Eve have two sons: Cain, a tiller of the ground, and Abel, a keeper of sheep. Each brings an offering; the Lord regards Abel and his offering, and not Cain and his. The Lord warns Cain. Cain kills Abel in the field. The Lord questions him, hears the blood cry from the ground, curses him from the ground, makes him a wanderer, and sets a sign so that no one who finds him will kill him. Cain goes out from the Lord's presence to Nod, east of Eden. His line runs through Enoch to Lamech, with a city, tent-dwelling herders, music and metalwork. Lamech takes two wives and sings of vengeance sevenfold and seventy-sevenfold. Seth is born in Abel's place, then Enosh, and at that time calling on the name of the Lord began.

Implies Cain and Abel are real persons, as the New Testament treats them. That is set out in the note on persons and history, consistent with the notes on Genesis 2.

Uncertain Why Abel's offering was regarded, the hard syntax of 4:7, what the sign was, Cain's wife, who built the city, the tone of Lamech's song, how the two lines stand beside Genesis 5, and what began at 4:26, are treated in the Hebrew and historical notes. No lean is taken on those questions.