Gen 4:19, 23–24: Lamech's song

Says Lamech וַיִּקַּח־לוֹ לֶמֶךְ שְׁתֵּי נָשִׁים, "took for himself two wives." The song pairs its lines: עָדָה וְצִלָּה שְׁמַעַן קוֹלִי, "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice," with נְשֵׁי לֶמֶךְ הַאְזֵנָּה אִמְרָתִי, "wives of Lamech, give ear to my word"; אִישׁ, "a man," with וְיֶלֶד, "a boy"; לְפִצְעִי (BDB "bruise, wound") with לְחַבֻּרָתִי (BDB "stripe, blow"). הָרַגְתִּי is a perfect (OSHB). Then כִּי שִׁבְעָתַיִם יֻקַּם־קָיִן, "if sevenfold Cain is avenged," וְלֶמֶךְ שִׁבְעִים וְשִׁבְעָה, "then Lamech seventy and seven" (BSB "seventy-sevenfold"). Swete has ἑβδομηκοντάκις ἑπτά.

Uncertain The tense and tone; no lean is taken here. (1) A boast of a past killing, revenge beyond measure; grounds: the perfect. Objection: the song names no occasion. (2) A threat, the perfect read as "I will kill"; grounds: the taunting address to his wives. Objection: the plain sense of the perfect. (3) One victim in parallel lines, or two; grounds: the pairing of man and boy.

Implies The song turns the Lord's protective "sevenfold" of 4:15 (שִׁבְעָתַיִם) into Lamech's own claim of vengeance: 4:24 restates it and raises it to seventy-seven.

Uncertain Matt 18:22 has "seventy-seven times," and its Greek has the same form as Swete at 4:24; whether Jesus alludes to Lamech, as a contrast, is not settled. No lean is taken here.