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Genesis

About this book

Cain and Abel

Chapter 4

1 Now the man was intimate with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. Then she said, “I have created a man just as the Lord did!”⁠ 2 Then she gave birth to his brother Abel. Abel took care of the flocks,⁠ while Cain cultivated the ground. 3 At the designated time Cain brought some of the fruit of the ground for an offering to the Lord. 4 But Abel brought some of the firstborn of his flock—even the fattest of them. And the Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering,⁠ 5 but with Cain and his offering he was not pleased. So Cain became very angry, and his expression was downcast. 6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why is your expression downcast? 7 Is it not true that if you do what is right, you will be fine? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door.⁠ It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it.”⁠ 8 Cain spoke to his brother Abel.21⁠ While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.⁠ 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” And he replied, “I don’t know! Am I my brother’s guardian?”⁠ 10 But the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!⁠ 11 So now you are banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you try to cultivate the ground it will no longer yield its best for you. You will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.” 13 Then Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great to endure!⁠ 14 Look, you are driving me off the land today, and I must hide from your presence. I will be a homeless wanderer on the earth; whoever finds me will kill me!” 15 But the Lord said to him, “All right then, if anyone kills Cain, Cain will be avenged seven times as much.”⁠ Then the Lord put a special mark on Cain so that no one who found him would strike him down. 16 So Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Cain's Descendants

17 Cain was intimate with his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was building a city, and he named the city after his son Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael. Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech. 19 Lamech took two wives for himself; the name of the first was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the first of those who live in tents and keep livestock. 21 The name of his brother was Jubal; he was the first of all who play the harp and the flute. 22 Now Zillah also gave birth to Tubal-Cain, who heated metal and shaped all kinds of tools made of bronze and iron.⁠ The sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah. 23 Lamech said to his wives, “Adah and Zillah, listen to me! You wives of Lamech, hear my words! I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for hurting me. 24 If Cain is to be avenged seven times as much, then Lamech seventy-seven times!”

Seth and His Family

25 And Adam was intimate with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son. She named him Seth, saying, “God has given me another child in place of Abel because Cain killed him.” 26 And a son was also born to Seth, whom he named Enosh. At that time people began to worship the Lord.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Genesis 3:16 and Genesis 4:7

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Genesis 4 says sin desires Cain and that he must rule over it, echoing Genesis 3 where the woman’s desire turns toward her husband and he rules over her. The language may connect conflict between people with the inner struggle each person faces.

Passages

Genesis 3:16

Hebrew Bible
14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all the cattle and all the living creatures of the field! On your belly you will crawl and dust you will eat all the days of your life. 15 And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your labor pains; with pain you will give birth to children. You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate you.” 17 But to Adam he said, “Because you obeyed the voice of52 your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ the ground is cursed because of you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, but you will eat the grass of the field.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

Genesis 4:7

Hebrew Bible
5 but with Cain and his offering he was not pleased. So Cain became very angry, and his expression was downcast. 6 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why is your expression downcast? 7 Is it not true that if you do what is right, you will be fine? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. It desires to dominate you, but you must subdue it.” 8 Cain spoke to his brother Abel.21 While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” And he replied, “I don’t know! Am I my brother’s guardian?”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

References

"... Among the notable literary links between Genesis 3 and 4, the most prominent was noted in the great Jewish compilation of Genesis traditions and exegesis, Genesis Rabbah. It was also observed by Augustine: “The same words spoken to Cain about sin or the depraved desire of the flesh are here used of the sinful woman”. Augustine, like Genesis Rabbah, was observing that God’s speech to Cain in Genesis 4:6–7 echoes the divine words to Eve in 3:16 ... The resemblance between Genesis 3:16 and 4:7 extends also to the clause that the noun governs, namely “desire” plus preposition “to”. The closest biblical analogy to Cain’s need “to rule” himself appears in the advice given in Proverbs 16:32: “One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and one whose temper is controlled [literally, “rules over his own spirit”] than one who captures a city.” This same verbal construction appears in the prayer in Psalm 19:14. Referring to “presumptuous sins”, the psalmist asks of God: “do not let them rule over me.” The “presumptuous sins” in this prayer appear personified as “arrogant persons,” much as sin is personified in Genesis 4:7. Psalm 19:14 captures what Cain is up against, needing to resist his subjugation to the negative power of sin. So the intriguing characterization of sin in Genesis 4:7 is hardly without parallels. It is a dramatic, evocative expression rather than a rational explanation ..."
Mark S. Smith, The Genesis of Good and Evil: The Fall(out) and Original Sin in the Bible (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2019), 66–67.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Comments

  • Why does the KJV mistranslate the Hebrew word (sha' ah), as RESPECT in Genesis 4? The word means turn gaze away in dismay. Abel is a KEEPER of SHEEP (rāʿâ ṣō'n), eater, enslaver of men. Cain the TILLER of GROUND (āḇaḏ 'ăḏāmâ) Gods productive servant.

    Nashalla, May 28, 2023

Genesis 3:16 and Genesis 4:7

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