16 To the woman he said,

“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
    with painful labor you will give birth to children.(A)
Your desire will be for your husband,
    and he will rule over you.(B)

17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’(C)

“Cursed(D) is the ground(E) because of you;
    through painful toil(F) you will eat food from it
    all the days of your life.(G)
18 It will produce thorns and thistles(H) for you,
    and you will eat the plants of the field.(I)
19 By the sweat of your brow(J)
    you will eat your food(K)
until you return to the ground,
    since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
    and to dust you will return.”(L)

20 Adam[a] named his wife Eve,[b](M) because she would become the mother of all the living.

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 3:20 Or The man
  2. Genesis 3:20 Eve probably means living.

Cain and Abel

Adam[a] made love to his wife(A) Eve,(B) and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.[b](C) She said, “With the help of the Lord I have brought forth[c] a man.” Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.(D)

Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil.(E) In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering(F) to the Lord.(G) And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions(H) from some of the firstborn of his flock.(I) The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering,(J) but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry?(K) Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door;(L) it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.(M)

Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.”[d] While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.(N)

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 4:1 Or The man
  2. Genesis 4:1 Cain sounds like the Hebrew for brought forth or acquired.
  3. Genesis 4:1 Or have acquired
  4. Genesis 4:8 Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac; Masoretic Text does not have “Let’s go out to the field.”

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