‘And Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice, you wives of Lamech listen to what I say, I have slain a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me, if Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and seven fold”.'
Lamech has killed a young man and claims that it was in self-defence. But he fears vengeance from the young man's family. Now he is claiming the protection of God. God had promised to avenge Cain, who did not act in self-defence, sevenfold. In fairness He must, if necessary, avenge Lamech seventy and seven fold. Thus does he lay claim to a covenant relationship with God, and to God's protection.
Yet it is noteworthy that he does not mention the name of Elohim or of Yahweh, nor does either appear in this section. This may suggest a deliberate avoiding of either name by those who are of the family of Cain, possibly because it was considered too sacred to name and as such taboo. Desert dwellers have often been the most religiously conservative. Interestingly such an indirect way of referring to God by using the passive tense is paralleled in the teaching of Jesus (e.g. ‘blessed are the poor in spirit').
Some see this rather as a boasting song. They consider that he is exulting in having obtained vengeance over and above that which God would have allowed in respect of Cain. They thus see this as a further increase in the level of man's sinfulness. But while the idea is attractive and would agree with increasing viciousness and violence on the earth (Genesis 6:11), where however it is not limited to Cain's descendants), it does not tie in strictly with his words. Cain had not been avenged sevenfold, the vengeance was potential only, therefore Lamech is speaking of potential vengeance. Nor would it give his words the value of a covenant. And all these early records are in respect of covenants. It is always possible, of course, that it may have been preserved as a tribal assertion of superiority.
It is interesting to note that the intensification of sevenfold is ‘seventy and seven' fold. In later times it would be ‘seventy times seven'. This is an indication of the antiquity of his words.