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The First Family

·Adam [L The man; 1:27] ·had sexual relations with [L knew] his wife Eve, and she ·became pregnant [conceived] and gave birth to Cain. Eve said, “With the Lord’s help, I have ·given birth to [L produced; or acquired; C the verb resembles Cain’s name] a man.” After that, Eve gave birth to Cain’s brother Abel [C resembles the word for vapor or breath]. Abel took care of flocks, and Cain ·became a farmer [L was a tiller/worker of the ground].

·Later [In due course; L At the end of the days], Cain brought some ·food [produce; fruit] from the ground as a ·gift [tribute; Lev. 2] to God. Abel brought the ·best parts [fat portions; Lev. 3:16] from some of the firstborn of his flock [Heb. 11:4]. The Lord ·accepted [looked with favor on] Abel and his ·gift [tribute], but he did not ·accept [look with favor on] Cain and his ·gift [tribute]. So Cain became very angry and ·felt rejected [or felt dejected; L his face/countenance fell].

The Lord asked Cain, “Why are you angry? Why ·do you look so unhappy [L has your face/countenance fallen; 4:5]? If you do things ·well [correctly; appropriately], ·I will [L will I not…?] accept you, but if you do not do them ·well [correctly; appropriately], sin is ·ready to attack you [L crouching at the door]. Sin ·wants [desires to control; 3:16] you, but you must rule over it.”

Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out into the field.”[a] While they were out in the field, Cain ·attacked [L rose up against] his brother Abel and killed him [Matt. 23:35; Luke 11:51; Heb. 12:24; 1 John 3:11–12; Jude 11].

Later, the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

Cain answered, “I don’t know. ·Is it my job to take care of my brother [T Am I my brother’s keeper]?”

10 Then the Lord said, “What have you done? Your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground. 11 And now you will be cursed ·in your work with [L and banished from] the ground, ·the same ground where your brother’s blood fell and where your hands killed him [L which has opened its mouth to take the blood of your brother from your hand]. 12 You will ·work [till] the ground, but it will not ·grow good crops [L yield its strength] for you anymore, and you will ·wander around [be a fugitive and a wanderer/homeless wanderer] on the earth.”

13 Then Cain said to the Lord, “This punishment is more than I can ·stand [bear]! 14 Today you have forced me ·to stop working [L from] the ground, and now I ·must hide from you [or will be hidden from your face]. I ·must wander around [L will be a fugitive and wanderer/homeless wanderer] on the earth, and anyone who ·meets [finds] me can kill me.”

15 The Lord said to Cain, “No! If anyone kills you, I will ·punish [avenge] that person seven times more.” Then the Lord put a mark [C the nature of the mark is uncertain] on Cain warning anyone who ·met [finds] him not to kill him.

Cain’s Family

16 So Cain went away from the Lord and lived in the land of Nod [C resembles a Hebrew word meaning “wanderer”], east of Eden.

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 4:8 Cain…field This sentence appears in some Greek copies, but not in the Hebrew text.

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