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Genesis 4:23

And Lamech said to his wives Ada and Sella: Hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech, hearken to my speech: for I have slain a man to the wounding of myself, and a stripling to my own bruising.

Challoner: I have slain a manIt is the tradition of the Hebrews, that Lamech in hunting slew Cain, mistaking him for a wild beast; and that having discovered what he had done, he beat so unmercifully the youth, by whom he was led into that mistake, that he died of the blows.

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The verse in its languages

Vulgate (Clementine): Dixitque Lamech uxoribus suis Adæ et Sellæ : Audite vocem meam, uxores Lamech ; auscultate sermonem meum : quoniam occidi virum in vulnus meum, et adolescentulum in livorem meum.
Septuagint (Swete): εἶπεν δὲ Λάμεχ ταῖς ἑαυτοῦ γυναιξίν Ἀδὰ καὶ Σελλά, ἀκούσατέ μου τῆς φωνῆς· γυναῖκες Λάμεχ, ἐνωτίσασθέ μου τοὺς λόγους· ὅτι ἄνδρα ἀπέκτεινα εἰς τραῦμα ἐμοί, καὶ νεανίσκον εἰς μώλωπα ἐμοί·
Hebrew (WLC): וַיֹּ֨אמֶר לֶ֜מֶךְ לְנָשָׁ֗יו עָדָ֤ה וְצִלָּה֙ שְׁמַ֣עַן קוֹלִ֔י נְשֵׁ֣י לֶ֔מֶךְ הַאְזֵ֖נָּה אִמְרָתִ֑י כִּ֣י אִ֤ישׁ הָרַ֨גְתִּי֙ לְפִצְעִ֔י וְיֶ֖לֶד לְחַבֻּרָתִֽי

Haydock's commentary

Said. This is the most ancient piece of poetry with which we are acquainted. (Fleury)

Lamech may be considered as the father of poets. (Haydock)

I have slain a man, &c. It is the tradition of the Hebrews, that Lamech in hunting slew Cain, mistaking him for a wild beast: and that having discovered what he had done, he beat so unmercifully the youth, by whom he was led into that mistake, that he died of the blows. (Challoner)

St. Jerome, 9. 1. ad Dam. acknowledges the difficulty of this passage, on which Origen wrote two whole books. (Worthington)

From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.

The Fathers on this verse

Origen Origen's Commentary on Matthew, Chapter V

“ Then came Peter and said unto Him, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? ” The conception that these things were said in a simple sense by Peter, as if he were inquiring whether he was to forgive his brother when he sinned against him seven times, but no longer if he sinned an eighth time, and by the Saviour, as if He thought that one should sit still and reckon up the sins of his neighbours against him in order that he might forgive seventy times and seven, but that from the seventy-eighth he should not forgive the man who wronged him, seems to me altogether silly and unworthy alike of the progress which Peter had made in the company of Jesus and of the divine magnanimity of Jesus. Perhaps, then, these things also border on an obscurity akin to the words, “Hear My voice, ye wives of Lamech,” etc. …

St Basil The Letters, To Optimus the bishop

5. Your next question is of a kindred character, concerning the words of Lamech to his wives; “I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt: if Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.” Some suppose that Cain was slain by Lamech, and that he survived to this generation that he might suffer a longer punishment. But this is not the case. Lamech evidently committed two murders, from what he says himself, “I have slain a man and a young man,” the man to his wounding, and the young man to his hurt. There is a difference between wounding and hurt. And there is a difference between a man and a young man. “If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.” It is right that I should undergo four hundred and ninety punishments, if God’s judgment on Cain was just, that his punishments should be seven. …