Genesis 4:6–15

⁶Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you furious? ^uAnd why do you look despondent? ^v7If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.” ^w

⁸Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” ^xAnd while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. ^y

⁹Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”

¹⁰Then He said, “What have you done? Your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground! ^z11So now you are cursed, alienated, from the ground that opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood you have shed. ^a12If you work the ground, it will never again give you its yield. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” ^b

¹³But Cain answered the Lord, “My punishment ^cis too great to bear! ¹⁴Since You are banishing me today from the soil, and I must hide myself from Your presence and become a restless wanderer on the earth, whoever finds me will kill me.” ^d

¹⁵Then the Lord replied to him, “In that case, ^ewhoever kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” ^fAnd He placed a mark ^gon Cain so that whoever found him would not kill him.