Bible Dictionaries
Lamech

　　1. Genesis 4:18-24 , a descendant of Cain, in the fifth generation, and ancestor of numerous posterity distinguished for a skill in agriculture, music, and several mechanic arts. He is the first polygamist on record. His address to his two wives is the oldest specimen of poetry extant, and is a good illustration of Hebrew parallelism.

　　"Adah and Zillah,

　　Hear my voice;

　　Ye wives of Lamech,

　　Hearken unto my speech.

　　I have slain a man

　　To my wounding,

　　And [or even] a young man

　　To my hurt.

　　If Cain shall be avenged

　　Seven-fold,

　　Truly Lamech

　　Seventy and seven fold."

　　Many explanations of this abrupt fragment have been suggested. The

　　most satisfactory, perhaps, is that Lamech had accidentally or in

　　self-defense killed a man, and was exposed to the vengeance of "the

　　avenger of blood;" but quiets the fears of his wives by saying of

　　Cain under heavy penalties, Genesis 4:15 , much more would he guard

　　the life of Lamech who was comparatively innocent.

　　2. The son of Methuselah, and father of Noah; he lived seven hundred

　　and seventy-seven years, and died only five years before the flood,

　　Genesis 5:25-31 .