The Wife Of Cain

One of the least important questions of the entire Bible, yet one of the most asked.

What does the Bible say? Nothing other than Cain had a wife:

"And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch." (KJV Genesis 4:17)

No mention of who the wife of Cain is. Up to this point only 6 people have been mentioned (God, Adam, Eve, Serpent, Cain, and Abel) and only one of those is a female.

But did Cain sleep with his mother and she bared Enoch? Of course not. That would just be wrong. Cain married his sister. Not good, but definitely not as bad as it could have been.

This information does not come from the Bible so many will dismiss it.

The Book Of Jubilees, is an ancient Jewish work that was written between 150-100BC. It is considered canonical by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as well as Jews in Ethiopia, where it is known as the Book of Division. And The Book Of Jubilees not only gives a name to the wife Cain, it also says when she was born, and her relationship to Cain before the marriage:

"And in the third week in the second jubilee [64-70 A.M.] she gave birth to Cain, and in the fourth [71-77 A.M.] she gave birth to Abel, and in the fifth [78-84 A.M.] she gave birth to her daughter Âwân." (Book Of Jubilees 4:1)

"And Cain took Âwân his sister to be his wife and she bare him Enoch at the close of the fourth jubilee. [190-196 A.M.] And in the first year of the first week of the fifth jubilee, [197 A.M.] houses were built on the earth, and Cain built a city, and called its name after the name of his son Enoch." (Book Of Jubilees 4:9)

Simple. No great mystery. Cain married his sister Âwân, who was born somewhere between 78-84AM.

If you read chapter 4 of The Book Of Jubilees a lot of women that the Bible forgot to name are all mentioned. Actually read the whole thing, it is full of interesting, and possible, details that the Bible decided was not necessary.

And, finally, just before anyone asks - Seth married his sister, who was called Azûrâ, who was born somewhere between 134-140AM:

"And in the sixth week [134-40 A.M.] he begat his daughter Azûrâ." (Book Of Jubilees 4:8)

As for all the rest - just go read the book. Google Books is your friend and will find it for you in PDF, EPUB, and various other formats.