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Zillah

Woman living at the time before the Flood

Zillah, one of Lamech's two wives, was the mother of Tubal-Cain, the first metalworker, and Naamah.

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Zillah was one of the two wives of Lamech, a descendant of Cain, and is mentioned in the genealogy of Cain's line in Genesis 4. She was the mother of Tubal-Cain, who is described as the first metalworker, and of a daughter named Naamah. Zillah and her co-wife Adah are significant because their children represent the development of important aspects of human civilization, such as animal husbandry, music, and metalworking. The mention of Lamech's wives by name is unusual in the genealogies of Genesis, which typically only list male names. This suggests that Zillah and Adah played a notable role in the advancement of human society. Some scholars see the names of Lamech's wives as symbolic, with Zillah meaning "shade" or "protection," possibly representing the transition to a more settled way of life. The story of Lamech and his wives is part of the larger narrative of the early chapters of Genesis, which trace the development of human civilization from the creation of Adam and Eve to the time of Noah.

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Spouse or partner
Lamech

Bible dictionary

Zillah Easton Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897)

Shadow, one of the wives of Lamech, of the line of Cain, and mother of Tubal-cain (Gen. 4:19, 22).

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Zillah Smith Smith’s Bible Dictionary (1863)

(shade). [Lamech]

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Zillah Hitchcock Hitchcock’s Bible Names Dictionary (1869)

shadow; the tingling of the ear

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Zillah Hastings Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible (1898)

ZIL'LAH (shade), one of the wives of Laniech. Gen 4:19, Josh 11:22, Heb 12:23.

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Zillah Schaff Schaff’s Dictionary of the Bible

ZIL'LAH (shade), one of the wives of Laniech. Gen 4:19, Josh 11:22, Heb 12:23.

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Easton (1897), Smith (1863), Hitchcock (1869), Hastings (1898) and Schaff are in the public domain. Parsed text: neuu-org/bible-dictionary-dataset (CC BY 4.0). Headwords and whitespace normalised for this site.

Where Zillah appears

3 verses in 1 book · English text: BSB (change it from the menu at the top) · Strong’s H6741

Genesis3

Names, family links and references: STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). Short descriptions were drafted with AI assistance by STEPBible. Family links follow STEPBible’s scholarly decisions where genealogies are ambiguous.