SECOND BOOK OF AḎAM AND ḤAWWAH 13

1 Lemeḵ the blind lived in those days. He was one of the sons of Qayin. He had a son whose name was Atun, and the two of them had many cattle.

2 Lemeḵ was in the habit of sending them to graze with a young shepherd, who tended them. He was coming home in the evening when he went to his grandfather, his father Atun, and his mother Hazina, and he wept and he said to them, “I cannot feed those cattle alone, or someone may rob me of some of them, or kill me so they can take them.” Because among the children of Qayin there was a lot of robbery, murder, and sin.

3 Then Lemeḵ pitied him, and he said, “You may be correct. When you are alone you might be overpowered by the men of this place.”

4 So Lemeḵ arose, took a bow he had kept ever since he was a youth, before he became blind, and he took large arrows, and smooth stones, and a sling, which he had, and he went to the field with the young shepherd, and placed himself behind the cattle while the young shepherd watched the cattle. Lemeḵ did this for many days.

5 Meanwhile, ever since Elohim had cast him off and had cursed him with trembling and fear, Qayin could not be still nor find rest in any one place, so he wandered from place to place.

6 In his wanderings he came to Lemeḵ’s wives, and asked them about him. They said to him, “He is in the field with the cattle.”

7 Then Qayin went to look for him and as he came into the field, the young shepherd heard the noise he made, and the cattle herding together in front of him.

8 Then said he to Lemeḵ, “My master, is that a wild beast or a robber?”

9 And Lemeḵ said to him, “Tell me where he is when he comes up.”

10 Then Lemeḵ bent his bow, placed an arrow on it, and fitted a stone in the sling, and when Qayin came out from the open country, the shepherd said to Lemeḵ, “Shoot, behold, he is coming.”

11 Then Lemeḵ shot at Qayin with his arrow and hit him in his side. And Lemeḵ struck him with a stone from his sling, and the stone struck his face and knocked out both his eyes. Then Qayin fell dead instantly.

12 Then Lemeḵ and the young shepherd came up to him and found him lying on the ground. And the young shepherd said to him, ”It is Qayin our grandfather, whom you have killed, my master!”

13 Then Lemeḵ grieved in bitterness and regret. And he clapped his hands together and struck the head of the youth with his flat palm, and the youth fell as if he were dead. But Lemeḵ thought the youth was pretending, so he took up a stone and struck him, and smashed his head until he died.