Genesis 4:1-16

The Voice

4 Now Adam and Eve discovered the pleasures of lovemaking, and soon Eve conceived and gave birth to a son whom they named Cain.

Eve (excited): Look, I have created a new human, a male child, with the help of the Eternal.

One of the first things Adam and Eve do after being banished from the garden of Eden is to make a baby. Despite the pain of childbirth, Eve speaks with joy of the birth of her son. She certainly suffers and could have easily died in childbirth, but the desire to reproduce and the joy of joining with God in the creative process brings great reward. Every parent knows the risks and rewards of bringing forth the next generation.

²Eve went on to give birth to Cain’s brother, Abel. Abel grew up to become a shepherd, and Cain grew up to become a farmer. ³After he had learned how to produce food from the fields, Cain gave the Eternal One an offering—some of the crops he had grown from the ground. ⁴For his part of the offering, Abel gave God some tender lamb meat—the choicest cuts from the firstborn of his flock. The Eternal One accepted Abel and his gift of lamb, ⁵while He had no regard for Cain and what he presented. Because of this, Cain became extremely angry and his face fell.

God notices Cain’s reaction and confronts him.

Eternal One (to Cain): ⁶Why are you angry? And why do you look so despondent? ⁷Don’t you know that as long as you do what is right, then I accept you? But if you do not do what is right, watch out, because sin is crouching at the door, ready to pounce on you! You must master it before it masters you.

Jealousy is eating at Cain’s heart. Left unattended, it consumes him.

⁸Cain spoke to his brother Abel. When they were in the field, Cain’s envy of his brother got the better of him, and he attacked and killed Abel.

Eternal One (to Cain): ⁹Where’s your brother Abel?

Cain: I have no idea. Am I supposed to be responsible for where he goes and what he does?

Eternal One: ¹⁰What have you done? Listen! I can hear the voice of your brother’s blood crying out to Me from the ground! ¹¹And now you are cursed, cut off from the ground—the ground that opened up and received your brother’s innocent blood, spilled by your own murderous hand! ¹²From now on, when you till the ground, it will no longer yield for you its strength and nourishment. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.

Cain: ¹³My punishment is more than I can bear! ¹⁴Today You have banned me from the soil and hidden me from Your presence! I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me will want to kill me!

Eternal One: ¹⁵That’s not the case! Whoever kills you will suffer My vengeance and pay the penalty seven times!

Then God put a special mark on Cain, so that no one who came in contact with him would try to kill him.

¹⁶Then Cain went away from the Eternal’s presence and settled in the land of Nod, a place for wanderers, to the east of Eden.

Read full chapter