Genesis 4

Lexham English Bible

Cain and Abel

4 Now Adam knew^[a] Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain. And she said, “I have given birth to a man with the help of Yahweh.” ² Then she bore^[b] his brother Abel. And Abel became a keeper of sheep, and Cain became a tiller of the ground. ³ And in the course of time^[c] Cain brought an offering from the fruit of the ground to Yahweh, ⁴ and Abel also brought an offering from the choicest firstlings of his flock.^[d] And Yahweh looked with favor to Abel and to his offering, ⁵ but to Cain and to his offering he did not look with favor. And Cain became very angry, and his face fell. ⁶ And Yahweh said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why is your face fallen? ⁷ If you do well will I not accept you?^[e] But if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. And its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

⁸ Then^[f] Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out into the field.”^[g] And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. ⁹ Then^[h] Yahweh said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” ¹⁰ And he 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 cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive the blood of your brother from your hand. ¹² When you till the ground it shall no longer yield its strength to you.^[i] You shall be a wanderer and a fugitive on the earth.” ¹³ And Cain said to Yahweh, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. ¹⁴ Look, you have driven me out today from the face of the ground, and from your face I must hide. I will be a wanderer and a fugitive on the earth, and it will happen that whoever finds me will kill me.” ¹⁵ Then^[j] Yahweh said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain will be avenged sevenfold.” Then^[k] Yahweh put a sign on Cain so that whoever found him would not kill him. ¹⁶ And Cain went out from the presence of Yahweh, and he settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

¹⁷ And Cain knew^[l] his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. And when he built a city he named the city after his son, Enoch.^{[m] 18} And to Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech. ¹⁹ And Lamech took to himself two wives.^[n] The name of the first was Adah, and the name of the second was Zillah. ²⁰ And Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and those who have livestock. ²¹ And the name of his brother was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and wind instruments. ²² Then^[o] Zillah also gave birth to Tubal-Cain who forged all kinds of tools of bronze and iron. And the sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.

²³ Then^[p] Lamech said to his wives,

²⁵ Then^[q] Adam knew^[r] his wife again, and she gave birth to a son. And she called his name Seth, for she said “God has appointed to me another child in the place of Abel, because Cain killed him.” ²⁶ And as for Seth, he also fathered a son, and he called his name Enosh. At that time he^[s] began to call on the name of Yahweh.