IUBAL (Hebrew: Yábhál; Greek 'Iouβáλ), - a descendant of Cain, son of Lamech and Ada, “the father of all who play the lyre and the pipe” (Gen 4:21). He is thus credited with inventing the *himnó* and the *‘ághábh*, rudimentary instruments: the first a stringed instrument, the second a kind of flute fashioned by shepherds from reeds or other materials.
In Gen 4:21–22 the rise of the arts that form material civilization is described. Babylonian tradition, though differently, likewise attributes the origin of culture to the generations before the flood.
BIBL.: A. Vaccari, *La S. Bibbia*, I, Florence 1943, p. 73; P. Plessis, *Babylone et la Bible*, in DBs, I, cols. 752 sgg. Francesco Spadafora