4 ¹ The man lay with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. She said, 'With the help of the LORD I have brought a man into being.' 4 ² Afterwards she had another child, his brother Abel. Abel was a shepherd and Cain a tiller of the soil. 4 ³ The day came when Cain brought some of the produce of the soil as a gift to the LORD; 4 ⁴ and Abel brought some of the first-born of his flock, the fat portions of them Or some of the first-born, that is the sucklings, of his flock. The LORD received Abel and his gift with favour; 4 ⁵ but Cain and his gift he did not receive. Cain was very angry and his face fell. 4 ⁶ Then the LORD said to Cain, 'Why are you so angry and cast down? 4 ⁷ 'If you do well, you are accepted; Or you hold your head up
if not, sin is a demon crouching at the door.
It shall be eager for you, and you will be mastered by it Or but you must master it.'

4 ⁸ Cain said to his brother Abel, 'Let us go into the open country.' While they were there, Cain attacked his brother Abel and murdered him. 4 ⁹ Then the LORD said to Cain, 'Where is your brother Abel?' Cain answered, 'I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?' 4 ¹⁰ The LORD said, 'What have you done? Hark! your brother's blood that has been shed is crying out to me from the ground. 4 ¹¹ Now you are accursed, and banished from Or more than (cp 3.17) the ground which has opened its mouth wide to receive your brother's blood, which you have shed. 4 ¹² When you till the ground, it will no longer yield you its wealth. You shall be a vagrant and a wanderer on earth.' 4 ¹³ Cain said to the LORD, 'My punishment is heavier than I can bear; 4 ¹⁴ thou hast driven me today from the ground, and I must hide myself from thy presence. I shall be a vagrant and a wanderer on earth, and anyone who meets me can kill me.' 4 ¹⁵ The LORD answered him, 'No: if anyone kills Cain, Cain shall be avenged sevenfold.' So the LORD put a mark on Cain, in order that anyone meeting him should not kill him. 4 ¹⁶ Then Cain went out from the LORD's presence and settled in the land of Nod That is Wandering Or and he lived as a wanderer in the land to the east of Eden.