⁴⁵ When your brother is no longer angry with you and forgets what you did to him,^(A) I’ll send word for you to come back from there.^(B) Why should I lose both of you in one day?”

Boasting About Tomorrow

¹³ Now listen,^(A) you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”^{(B) 14} Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.^{(C) 15} Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will,^(D) we will live and do this or that.”

⁴ When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand,^(A) they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.”^(B)

⁶ I your servant had two sons. They got into a fight with each other in the field, and no one was there to separate them. One struck the other and killed him. ⁷ Now the whole clan has risen up against your servant; they say, ‘Hand over the one who struck his brother down, so that we may put him to death^(A) for the life of his brother whom he killed; then we will get rid of the heir^(B) as well.’ They would put out the only burning coal I have left,^(C) leaving my husband neither name nor descendant on the face of the earth.”

³⁵ But he said, “Your brother came deceitfully^(A) and took your blessing.”^(B)

⁵ And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting.^(A) I will demand an accounting from every animal.^(B) And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.^(C)

⁸ 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.^(A)

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

“I don’t know,^(C)” 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.^{(D) 11} Now you are under a curse^(E) 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.^(F) You will be a restless wanderer^(G) on the earth.^(H)”

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;^(I) I will be a restless wanderer on the earth,^(J) and whoever finds me will kill me.”^(K)

¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Not so^[b]; anyone who kills Cain^(L) will suffer vengeance^(M) seven times over.^(N)” 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^(O) and lived in the land of Nod,^[c] east of Eden.^(P)