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“Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”

One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.”[a] And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.

Afterward the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?”

“I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”

10 But the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground! 11 Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood. 12 No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”

13 Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment[b] is too great for me to bear! 14 You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!”

15 The Lord replied, “No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him. 16 So Cain left the Lord’s presence and settled in the land of Nod,[c] east of Eden.

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Footnotes

  1. 4:8 As in Samaritan Pentateuch, Greek and Syriac versions, and Latin Vulgate; Masoretic Text lacks “Let’s go out into the fields.”
  2. 4:13 Or My sin.
  3. 4:16 Nod means “wandering.”

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry?(A) Why is your face downcast? If 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;(B) it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.(C)

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

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

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

10 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.(G) 11 Now you are under a curse(H) and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you.(I) You will be a restless wanderer(J) on the earth.(K)

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

15 But the Lord said to him, “Not so[b]; anyone who kills Cain(O) will suffer vengeance(P) seven times over.(Q)” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence(R) and lived in the land of Nod,[c] east of Eden.(S)

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 4:8 Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Masoretic Text does not have “Let’s go out to the field.”
  2. Genesis 4:15 Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Hebrew Very well
  3. Genesis 4:16 Nod means wandering (see verses 12 and 14).