4Adam had sexual relations with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. ⁿ Eve said, “With the Lord’s help, I have given birth to a man.” ²After that, Eve gave birth to Cain’s brother Abel. Abel took care of flocks, and Cain became a farmer.

³Later, Cain brought some food from the ground as a gift to God. ⁴Abel brought the best parts from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, ⁵but he did not accept Cain and his gift. So Cain became very angry and felt rejected.

⁶The Lord asked Cain, “Why are you angry? Why do you look so unhappy? ⁷If you do things well, I will accept you, but if you do not do them well, sin is ready to attack you. Sin wants you, but you must rule over it.”

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

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

Cain answered, “I don’t know. Is it my job to take care of my brother?”

¹⁰Then the Lord said, “What have you done? Your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground. ¹¹And now you will be cursed in your work with the ground, the same ground where your brother’s blood fell and where your hands killed him. ¹²You will work the ground, but it will not grow good crops for you anymore, and you will wander around on the earth.”

¹³Then Cain said to the Lord, “This punishment is more than I can stand! ¹⁴Today you have forced me to stop working the ground, and now I must hide from you. I must wander around on the earth, and anyone who meets me can kill me.”

¹⁵The Lord said to Cain, “No! If anyone kills you, I will punish that person seven times more.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain warning anyone who met him not to kill him.

Cain’s Family

¹⁶So Cain went away from the Lord and lived in the land of Nod, ⁿ east of Eden. ¹⁷He had sexual relations with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. At that time Cain was building a city, which he named after his son Enoch.

Read in Logos

Genesis 4:9: Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”

Footnotes

nCain This name sounds like the Hebrew word for “I have given birth.”
nNod This name sounds like the Hebrew word for “wander.”