⁸Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.”^p And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.^* ⁹Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” ¹⁰And the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen, your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!^* ¹¹And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹²When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”^* ¹³Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! ¹⁴Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me.”^* ¹⁵Then the Lord said to him, “Not so!^q Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him.^* ¹⁶Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod,^r east of Eden.

Beginnings of Civilization

¹⁷Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch, and he built a city and named it Enoch after his son Enoch.^* ¹⁸To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael the father of Methushael, and Methushael the father of Lamech.^* ¹⁹Lamech took two wives; the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. ²⁰Adah bore Jabal; he was the ancestor of those who live in tents and have livestock. ²¹His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the ancestor of all those who play the lyre and pipe. ²²Zillah bore Tubal-cain, who made all kinds of bronze and iron tools. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

²³Lamech said to his wives:

“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;

you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say:

I have killed a man for wounding me,

a young man for striking me.^*

²⁴If Cain is avenged sevenfold,

truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”^*

²⁵Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth,^s for she said, “God has appointed for me another child instead of Abel, because Cain killed him.”^* ²⁶To Seth also a son was born, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to invoke the name of the Lord.^*

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

pSam Gk Syr Vg: MT lacks Let us go out to the field
qGk Syr Vg: Heb Therefore
rThat is, wandering
sIn Heb Seth resembles the word for appointed

Cross references

*Mt 23:35; 1 Jn 3:12
*Heb 12:24; Rev 6:10
*v 14
*Gen 9:6; Num 35:19, 21, 27; Ps 51:11
*Ps 79:12; Ezek 9:4, 6
*Ps 49:11
*Gen 5:21, 28, 30
*v 18; Ex 20:13; Lev 19:18; Deut 32:35; Lk 3:36
*v 15
*v 8; Gen 5:3
*1 Kings 18:24; Ps 116:17; Joel 2:32; Zeph 3:9; 1 Cor 1:2