Where Did Cain Get His Wife?

Yesterday we learned everyone is descended from Adam and Eve, so we’re all one race. But this raises a question: where did Cain get his wife?

Only three of Adam and Eve’s sons are named in Scripture—Cain, Abel, and Seth. But Genesis mentions Cain had a wife. Now where’d she come from?

Well, Genesis also tells us Adam and Eve had other sons and daughters. Since there was no one else for him to marry, Cain had to have married his sister.

But isn’t this incest? Well, the laws forbidding close intermarriage weren’t handed down from God until much later: at the time of Moses. Before that, it was common for close relatives to marry. After all, in the beginning, there wasn’t anyone else around!

Dig Deeper

• Who Was Cain’s Wife?
• Does It Matter Where Cain Got His Wife?