Genesis4:19

Translation

Then Lamech took two wives.

Go to footnote number

The name of one was ADAH and the name of the other was Zillah.

Go to footnote number

Paraphrase

Then Lamech (meaning unknown) married two women. One was named ORNAMENT, the other was named Zillah (meaning unknown).

Footnotes

1

This is the first reference in the Bible to polygamy. Most Bible scholars think that, by taking two wives, Lamech was stepping outside of the pattern that God had established and was acting in rebellion against God.

2

It appears that Lamech took a second wife simply because he wanted to. It was a way to flaunt his willingness to go against what God had established. He wanted a wife that was “an ornament,” because she made him look good, made him the envy of all other men. Usually we would expect the first wife to be mentioned first, but I think that in this case the second one is mentioned first because her role in the story is more important than that of Lamech’s first wife. We are not given the meaning of the name of his other wife because it would not add anything to the purpose of the story.