Now Adam had slept with his wife, and she conceived and bore a son named Cain. She said, “By the grace of YAHWEH I have birthed a man!” Then later, she gave birth to Cain’s brother Abel. Abel grew up to be a shepherd, and Cain became a farmer, working the ground. After some time passed, Cain presented an offering to YAHWEH from the produce of the land. Abel also brought his offering, from among the finest of the firstborn of his flocks. YAHWEH was very pleased with Abel and accepted his offering, but with Cain and his offering, YAHWEH was not pleased, making Cain very furious and resentful. So YAHWEH said to Cain,
“Why are you so angry and bothered?
If you offer what is right, won’t you be accepted?
But if you refuse to offer what is right,
sin, the predator, is crouching in wait outside the door of your heart.
It desires to have you, yet you must be its master.”
One day Cain said to his brother, “Let’s go out into the field.” When they arrived at the field, Cain rose and attacked and killed his brother Abel.
Then YAHWEH said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
He answered, “How do I know? Am I my brother’s keeper?”
YAHWEH said, “Listen—the voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground! What have you done? Now you are banished from the land, from the very ground that drank your brother’s blood from your hand! When you try to cultivate the ground it will no longer produce crops for you; and you will be a fugitive, a homeless wanderer!”
Cain said to YAHWEH, “My punishment is more than I can bear! Look—you’ve thrown me off the land today, and now I must hide from your presence. As a fugitive and wanderer on the earth, anyone who meets me may choose to kill me!”
YAHWEH responded, “Not so! If anyone kills you, I promise the seven-fold vengeance of Cain will be released upon him!” So, YAHWEH put an identifying sign on Cain as a warning so that no one would dare kill him. Then Cain left the presence of YAHWEH and journeyed to the Land of Wandering, east of Eden.
Cain slept with his wife and she conceived and bore Enoch. Cain was building a city at the time, so he named it the Village of Enoch, after his son.
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