Genesis 4:1-16

New International Version

Cain and Abel

4 Adam^[a] made love to his wife^(A) Eve,^(B) and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.^[b]^(C) She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth^[c] a man.” ²Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.^(D)

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.^(E) ³In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering^(F) to the Lord.^(G) ⁴And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions^(H) from some of the firstborn of his flock.^(I) The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering,^(J) ⁵but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

⁶Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry?^(K) Why is your face downcast? ⁷If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door;^(L) it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.^(M)”

⁸Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”^[d] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.^(N)

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

“I don’t know,^(P)” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁰The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.^(Q) ¹¹Now you are under a curse^(R) and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹²When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you.^(S) You will be a restless wanderer^(T) on the earth.^(U)”

¹³Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. ¹⁴Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence;^(V) I will be a restless wanderer on the earth,^(W) and whoever finds me will kill me.”^(X)

¹⁵But the Lord said to him, “Not so^[e]; anyone who kills Cain^(Y) will suffer vengeance^(Z) seven times over.^(AA)” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. ¹⁶So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence^(AB) and lived in the land of Nod,^[f] east of Eden.^(AC)

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Footnotes

Genesis 4:1 Or The man
Genesis 4:1 Cain sounds like the Hebrew for brought forth or acquired.
Genesis 4:1 Or have acquired
Genesis 4:8 Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Masoretic Text does not have “Let’s go out to the field.”
Genesis 4:15 Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew Very well
Genesis 4:16 Nod means wandering (see verses 12 and 14).

Matthew 20:1-16

New International Version

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like^(A) a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.^(B) ²He agreed to pay them a denarius^[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

³“About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ⁴He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ ⁵So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. ⁶About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

⁷“‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

⁸“When evening came,^(C) the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

⁹“The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. ¹⁰So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. ¹¹When they received it, they began to grumble^(D) against the landowner. ¹²‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat^(E) of the day.’

¹³“But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend.^(F) Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? ¹⁴Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. ¹⁵Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’^(G)

¹⁶“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”^(H)

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