Genesis 4:1-16

Cain and Abel

1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain. And she said, "I have given birth to a man with [the help of] Yahweh."

2 {Then she bore} his brother Abel. And Abel became a keeper of sheep, and Cain became a tiller of the ground.

3 And {in the course of time} Cain brought an offering from the fruit of the ground to Yahweh,

4 and Abel also brought [an offering] from {the choicest firstlings of his flock}. And Yahweh looked with favor to Abel and to his offering,

5 but to Cain and to his offering he did not look with favor. And Cain became very angry, and his face fell.

6 And Yahweh said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why is your face fallen?

7 If you do well {will I not accept you}? But if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. And its desire [is] for you, but you must rule over it."

8 Then Cain said to his brother Abel, ["Let us go out into the field."] And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

9 Then Yahweh said to Cain, "Where [is] Abel your brother?" And he said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?"

10 And he said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground.

11 So now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive the blood of your brother from your hand.

12 When you till the ground {it shall no longer yield its strength to you}. You shall be a wanderer and a fugitive on the earth."

13 And Cain said to Yahweh, "My punishment [is] greater than [I can] bear.

14 Look, you have driven me out today from the face of the ground, and from your face I must hide. I will be a wanderer and a fugitive on the earth, and it will happen that whoever finds me will kill me."

15 Then Yahweh said to him, "Therefore, whoever kills Cain will be avenged sevenfold." Then Yahweh put a sign on Cain so that whoever found him would not kill him.

16 And Cain went out from the presence of Yahweh, and he settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Genesis 4:1-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 4

In this chapter an account is given of the two eldest children of Adam and Eve, their names and calling, Ge 4:1,2 and of their different offerings to the Lord, and the different respect had unto them by him, which in Cain issued in wrath and envy, which appeared in his countenance, and were taken notice of by the Lord, and about which he reasoned with him, Ge 4:3-7 but it had no effect upon him, he murdered his brother, upon which he was examined about him, but denied he knew anything of him where he was, Ge 4:8,9 he is arraigned, convicted and condemned, sentence passed upon him, and that executed, which he complains of, and is mitigated, or however a protection is granted him, and a mark set on him for his security, Ge 4:10-15 after which we have an account of his posterity for several generations, their names, and the business of some of them, Ge 4:16-24 and the chapter is closed with the birth of another son, and of a grandson to Adam and Eve, in whose days was the beginning of social religion.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "had intercourse with"
• [b]. Literally "And she added to bear"
• [c]. Literally "it came to pass at the end of days"
• [d]. Literally "from the firstlings of his flock and from their fat"
• [e]. Literally "a lifting up"; this is an abbreviation of the Hebrew idiom "to lift up the face," which means "to accept or regard with favor"
• [f]. Or "And"
• [g]. This phrase is not present in the Hebrew; it is supplied in other versions [Samaritan, Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate]
• [h]. Or "And"
• [i]. Literally "it shall not add to give its strength to you"
• [j]. Or "And"
• [k]. Or "And"