Genesis 4:10-16

Common English Bible

¹⁰ The Lord said, “What did you do? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. ¹¹ You are now cursed from the ground that opened its mouth to take your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹² When you farm the fertile land, it will no longer grow anything for you, and you will become a roving nomad on the earth.”

¹³ Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. ¹⁴ Now that you’ve driven me away from the fertile land and I am hidden from your presence, I’m about to become a roving nomad on the earth, and anyone who finds me will kill me.”

¹⁵ The Lord said to him, “It won’t happen;^[a] anyone who kills Cain will be paid back seven times.” The Lord put a sign on Cain so that no one who found him would assault him. ¹⁶ Cain left the Lord’s presence, and he settled down in the land of Nod, east of Eden.