4 Now Adam[a] had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, “With the Lord’s help, I have produced[b] a man!” 2 Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel.
When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground. 3 When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord. 4 Abel also brought a gift—the best portions of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, 5 but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.
6 “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? 7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”
8 One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.”[c] And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.
9 Afterward the Lord asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?”
“I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”
10 But the Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground! 11 Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood. 12 No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”
13 Cain replied to the Lord, “My punishment[d] is too great for me to bear! 14 You have banished me from the land and from your presence; you have made me a homeless wanderer. Anyone who finds me will kill me!”
15 The Lord replied, “No, for I will give a sevenfold punishment to anyone who kills you.” Then the Lord put a mark on Cain to warn anyone who might try to kill him.
Footnotes:
4:1a Or the man; also in 4:25.
4:1b Or I have acquired. Cain sounds like a Hebrew term that can mean “produce” or “acquire.”
4:8 As in Samaritan Pentateuch, Greek and Syriac versions, and Latin Vulgate; Masoretic Text lacks “Let’s go out into the fields.”
4:13 Or My sin.
Abel and Cain by Carolina-Eade
So many thoughts while reading this text. The gratitude of Eve, as she realizes she has been included in God's act of creation... today is my youngest son's day of birth. I remember the overwhelmed sense of awe as I looked at his beauty, his dark eyes, his olive tone skin. "With the Lord's help, I have produced a man." But then to lose him, to another child's rage. That, I cannot imagine.
As a mother of two boys, I have watched the two over the years as they have irritated each other and pushed the limits. I have seen them move from sharing a room together at home to sharing an apartment together after college. They listen to the same music, dress very similar, and serve the same God. And yet the two are very different. Their approach to life, to their wives and children, even to God, is very different one to the other. Yet their love is real, and deep, and enduring.
Could one ever turn on the other as Cain did Abel? I imagine them playing together, sharing toys that their mother or father made for them, exploring the new earth together. At what point did their responsibility to one another change? "Am I my brother's keeper?" Oh yes, my child, oh yes you are. We all are...
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