4 Genesis 3 – 4

of you. You will have to work painfully hard to grow food from it throughout your whole
life. 18 It will grow thorns and thistles for you, and you will have to eat wild plants.a
19 You will have to sweat to grow enough food to eat until you die and return to the
ground. For you were made from dust and you will return to dust.”
20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she was to be the mother of all human beings.
21 The Lord God made Adam and Eve clothes from animal skins and dressed them.
22 Then the Lord God observed, “Look, the human beingsb have become like one of
us, knowing both what is good and what is evil. Now if they take the fruit from the tree
of life and eat it, then they'll live forever!” 23 So the Lord God expelled them from the
Garden of Eden. He sent Adam to cultivate the ground from which he'd been made.
24 After he drove them out, the Lord God placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden
angels and a sword that flashed in every direction. They were to prevent access to the tree
of life.
1Adam slept with his wife Eve and she became pregnant. She gave birth to Cain, and
4 2
said, “With the Lord's help I have made a man.” Later she gave birth to his brother
Abel. Abel became a shepherd, while Cain was a crop farmer.
3 Sometime later Cain brought some of the produce he'd grown as an offering to the
Lord. 4 Abel also brought an offering: the firstborn lambs of his flock, selecting the very
best parts to offer. The Lord was pleased with Abel and his offering, 5 but he wasn't
pleased with Cain and his offering, which made Cain very angry and he frowned in
annoyance.
6 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you so angry? Why do you look so annoyed? 7 If
you were doing what's right, then you'd be looking happy.c But if you don't do what's
right, then sin will be like an animal crouching outside your home, ready to pounce on
you. It wants to have you, but you must be the one in control.”
8 Later, when Cain was talking with his brother Abeld they went out into the fields
where Cain attacked his brother and killed him.
9 “Where is your brother Abel?” the Lord asked Cain.
“How should I know?” he replied. “Am I supposed to be my brother's care-giver?”
10 “What have you done?” the Lord asked. “Your brother's blood is crying out to me
from the ground. 11 Consequently you are more cursed than the ground because you
soaked it with your brother's blood. 12 When you cultivate the ground, it won't produce
crops for you. You'll be always on the run, wandering all over the earth.”
13 “My punishment is more than I can take,” Cain replied. 14 “Look! You're driving
me away right now—cursing the ground and banishing me from your presence. I'm going
to have to hide and always be on the run, left to wander all over the earth. Anyone who
finds me is going to kill me!”
15 But the Lord replied, “No, Cain. Anyone who kills you will be punished seven
times over.” The Lord placed a mark on Cain so that no one who came across him would
kill him.
16 So Cain left the Lord's presence and went to live in a land called Nod, east of Eden.e
17 Cain slept with his wife and she became pregnant. She had a son named Enoch. At
that time Cain was building a town, so he named it after his son Enoch. 18 Enoch had a
son named Irad. Irad was the father of Mehujael, Mehujael was the father of Methushael,
and Methushael was the father of Lamech. 19 Lamech married two women. The first was
named Adah, and the second was named Zillah. 20 Adah had a son named Jabal. He was

a 3:18. Plants were originally allocated to the animals. See 1:30.

b 3:22. “The human beings”: literally, “the man,” but this must be understood inclusively since Eve had
also fallen.
c 4:7. “Looking happy”: literally, “lifted up.” In the previous verse, the literal meaning is that Cain's “face
fell.” So the opposite would be for his face to be “lifted up,” in other words, he would look happy.
d 4:8. The Septuagint and some other ancient versions add here, “Let's go out into the fields.” The way the
sentence is structured in the Hebrew does suggest some words are missing.
e 4:16. “Nod” means “wandering.”