The First Children: Cain and Abel

4 The man was intimate with Eve, his wife. She conceived and gave birth to Cain. She said, “I have gotten a man with the Lord.”^{[a] 2} She also gave birth to Cain’s brother Abel.

Abel tended sheep, but Cain worked the ground. ³ As time passed, one day Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the soil. ⁴ Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. The Lord looked favorably on Abel and his offering, ⁵ but he did not look favorably on Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and his face showed it.

⁶ The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why do you have that angry look on your face?^{[b] 7} If you do good, will you not be lifted up? If you do not do good, sin is crouching at the door. It has a strong desire for you, but you must rule over it.”

⁸ Cain said to Abel, his brother, “Let’s go into the field.”^[c] When they were in the field, Cain attacked Abel, his brother, and killed him.

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

He said, “I don’t know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁰ The Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the soil. ¹¹ Now you are cursed and sent away from the soil^[d] which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² When you work the soil, it will no longer give its strength to you. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”

¹³ Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great for me to bear. ¹⁴ Look, today you have driven me away from the soil. I will be hidden from your face, and I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. And whoever finds me will kill me.”

¹⁵ The Lord said to him, “No!^[e] If anyone kills Cain, he will face sevenfold revenge.” And the Lord appointed a sign for^[f] Cain, so that anyone who found him would not strike him down.

The Descendants of Cain

¹⁶ Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod,^[g] east of Eden.

Greeting

The Elder,

To the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in the truth—not only I, but also everyone who knows the truth— ² because of the truth that remains in us and will be with us forever:

³ Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from^[a] Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, in truth and love.

Keep on Walking According to God’s Word

⁴ I was overjoyed to find out that some of your children are walking in the truth, in keeping with the command we received from the Father. ⁵ And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing a new command to you, but the one we have had from the beginning—let us love one another. ⁶ And this is love: that we walk according to his commands. This is the command: Just as you have heard from the beginning, keep on walking in it.

Love God and Your Neighbor

³⁴ When they heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees met together. ³⁵ One of them who was an expert in the law asked him a question, trying to trap him. ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?”

³⁷ Jesus said to him, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’^{[a] 38} This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^{[b] 40} All the Law and the Prophets depend^[c] on these two commandments.”

David’s Son and David’s Lord

⁴¹ While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question: ⁴² “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”

They said to him, “The Son of David.”

⁴³ He said to them, “Then how can David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying,

⁴⁵ “So if David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”

⁴⁶ No one was able to answer him a word, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.