How does God’s warning to Cain connect with the killing of Abel and the protection later given to Cain?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

God warns Cain about doing well and ruling sin before Cain kills Abel. The killing brings a curse and wandering, but God also threatens sevenfold punishment against anyone who kills Cain and marks him for protection.

Chapter breakdown

Eve gives birth to Cain after Adam knows her as his wife. She says that she has received a man through God. She then bears Abel, his brother. Abel is a shepherd, and Cain is a farmer. After many days Cain offers gifts from the fruits of the earth. Abel offers the firstborn of his flock and their fat. The Lord accepts Abel and his offerings. Challoner explains this acceptance as that of a sacrifice from a heart full of devotion. He supposes that there may have been a visible sign, such as fire from heaven upon the offering.

The Lord does not accept Cain or his offerings. Cain becomes exceedingly angry, and his expression falls. God asks why he is angry and why his expression has fallen. He tells Cain that doing well brings acceptance, but doing ill brings sin to the door. He also tells Cain that its desire shall be under him and that he shall rule it. The warning is given before the account records Cain’s next act.

Cain invites Abel to go out. When they are in the field, Cain rises against his brother and kills him. God asks Cain where Abel is. Cain replies that he does not know and asks whether he is his brother’s keeper. God asks what he has done and tells him that his brother’s blood cries to God from the earth.

God curses Cain upon the earth that has received Abel’s blood from his hand. The ground will no longer yield its fruit when Cain cultivates it, and he will be a fugitive and wanderer. Cain says that his wrongdoing is greater than that he may deserve pardon. He says that he is cast out from the earth and hidden from God’s face, and fears that anyone finding him will kill him. Challoner connects this fear with a guilty conscience and possible brothers and nephews already living on earth. He estimates nearly 130 years by comparing the later age given for Adam with Seth’s birth, and explains that this brief account names only Cain and Abel.

God answers that Cain will not be killed in that way: anyone who kills him will be punished sevenfold. He sets a mark upon Cain so that anyone finding him will not kill him. Challoner reports the common opinion of interpreters that the mark was bodily trembling or horror and dismay in Cain’s expression.

Cain leaves the Lord’s presence and lives as a fugitive east of Eden. His wife bears Henoch, and Cain builds a city named after his son. Challoner identifies Cain’s wife as a daughter of Adam and Cain’s sister. He explains that God permitted such marriages at the beginning so the human family could multiply. He also explains the city as being built over time, after Cain’s descendants became numerous enough to people it. His note says that their long lives could allow their numbers to reach millions. The family line continues from Henoch to Irad, Maviael, Mathusael and Lamech. Lamech takes two wives, Ada and Sella.

Ada bears Jabel, called the father of those who live in tents and of herdsmen. His brother Jubal is called the father of those who play the harp and organs. Sella bears Tubalcain, a metalworker in brass and iron; his sister is Noema. Lamech calls his wives Ada and Sella to hear his speech. He tells them that he has slain a man to his own wounding and a young man to his bruising. Challoner reports a Hebrew tradition that Lamech killed Cain while hunting, mistaking him for a wild beast, and then fatally beat the youth who had led him into the mistake. Lamech says that vengeance for Cain is sevenfold, but for himself seventy times sevenfold.

Eve bears another son and names him Seth. She says that God has given her another seed in place of Abel, whom Cain killed. Seth has a son, Enos, who begins to call upon the Lord’s name. Challoner explains that Adam and Seth had already called upon God. His note explains Enos’s calling upon God as worship and invocation with greater solemnity.

The story inside

The warning comes before the killing. Cain is angry after his offering is not accepted, and God addresses him with a question and a warning about sin. Cain then invites Abel out and kills him in the field. His later answer that he does not know where Abel is is confronted by God’s statement about Abel’s blood. The consequence concerns Cain’s work and place on earth. When Cain fears being killed himself, God’s answer limits what others may do to him: the mark protects him without withdrawing the sentence of wandering. The sequence therefore keeps warning, action, consequence and protection together.

Lessons worth keeping

1
God’s warning precedes Cain’s action. Cain’s anger and fallen expression lead to the question and warning in 4:6–7; the invitation and killing follow in 4:8. The account gives the reader the warning before the irreversible act, without recording an internal debate.
2
Cain’s protection does not cancel his sentence. He is told that the ground will not yield its fruit and that he will wander. The mark and sevenfold threat then protect him from being killed. Punishment and protection are both recorded outcomes (4:11–16).
3
Commentary has different levels of certainty. Challoner explains Abel’s devoted heart, supposes a possible visible sign of acceptance, reports an opinion about Cain’s mark, and labels the Lamech hunting account a Hebrew tradition. Keeping those labels prevents a possibility or tradition from becoming a biblical event.

Test your recall

What warning does Cain receive before killing Abel, and how do the later curse and protective mark affect different parts of his situation?

Show answer

God warns Cain that doing well brings acceptance, while sin lies at the door if he does ill; Cain can rule over it. After Abel’s murder, the ground will no longer yield its strength to Cain, and he must wander. The mark protects him from being killed by others, with sevenfold punishment threatened against his killer. It does not cancel the curse.

Quotes from Scripture

Exact Scripture quotations from the Douay–Rheims Bible, revised by Bishop Richard Challoner (1749–1752), the same edition used for these chapters. Source: Project Gutenberg no. 1581.

If thou do well, shalt thou not receive? but if ill, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door? but the lust thereof shall be under thee, and thou shalt have dominion over it.

Genesis 4:7 · Douay–Rheims / Challonerpg1581.txt · lines 537–539

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 510–529
Genesis Chapter 4 The history of Cain and Abel. 4:1. And Adam knew Eve his wife; who conceived and brought forth Cain, saying: I have gotten a man through God. 4:2. And again she brought forth his brother Abel. And Abel was a shepherd, and Cain a husbandman. 4:3. And it came to pass after many days, that Cain offered, of the fruits of the earth, gifts to the Lord. 4:4. Abel also offered of the firstlings of his flock, and of their fat: and the Lord had respect to Abel, and to his offerings. Had respect.... That is, shewed his acceptance of his sacrifice (as coming from a heart full of devotion): and that, as we may suppose, by some visible token, such as sending fire from heaven upon his offerings.
Lines 531–540
4:5. But to Cain and his offerings he had no respect: and Cain was exceeding angry, and his countenance fell. 4:6. And the Lord said to him: Why art thou angry? and why is thy countenance fallen? 4:7. If thou do well, shalt thou not receive? but if ill, shall not sin forthwith be present at the door? but the lust thereof shall be under thee, and thou shalt have dominion over it.
Lines 541–550
4:8. And Cain said to Abel his brother: Let us go forth abroad. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and slew him. 4:9. And the Lord said to Cain: Where is thy brother Abel? And he answered: I know not: am I my brother’s keeper? 4:10. And he said to him: What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth to me from the earth.
Lines 551–570
4:11. Now, therefore, cursed shalt thou be upon the earth, which hath opened her mouth and received the blood of thy brother at thy hand. 4:12. When thou shalt till it, it shall not yield to thee its fruit: a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be upon the earth. 4:13. And Cain said to the Lord: My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon. 4:14. Behold thou dost cast me out this day from the face of the earth, and from thy face I shall be hid, and I shall be a vagabond and a fugitive on the earth: every one, therefore, that findeth me, shall kill me. Every one that findeth me shall kill me.... His guilty conscience made him fear his own brothers and nephews; of whom, by this time, there might be a good number upon the earth; which had now endured near 130 years; as may be gathered from Gen. 5.3, compared with chap. 4.25, though in the compendious account given in the scriptures, only Cain and Abel are mentioned.
Lines 572–579
4:15. And the Lord said to him: No, it shall not so be: but whosoever shall kill Cain, shall be punished sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, that whosoever found him should not kill him. Set a mark, etc.... The more common opinion of the interpreters of holy writ supposes this mark to have been a trembling of the body; or a horror and consternation in his countenance.
Lines 580–599
4:16. And Cain went out from the face of the Lord, and dwelt as a fugitive on the earth at the east side of Eden. 4:17. And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived, and brought forth Henoch: and he built a city, and called the name thereof by the name of his son Henoch. His wife.... She was a daughter of Adam, and Cain’s own sister; God dispensing with such marriages in the beginning of the world, as mankind could not otherwise be propagated. He built a city, viz.... In process of time, when his race was multiplied, so as to be numerous enough to people it. For in the many hundred years he lived, his race might be multiplied even to millions. 4:18. And Henoch begot Irad, and Irad begot Maviael, and Maviael begot Mathusael, and Mathusael begot Lamech, 4:19. Who took two wives: the name of the one was Ada, and the name of the other Sella.
Lines 600–621
4:20. And Ada brought forth Jabel: who was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of herdsmen. 4:21. And his brother’s name was Jubal: he was the father of them that play upon the harp and the organs. 4:22. Sella also brought forth Tubalcain, who was a hammerer and artificer in every work of brass and iron. And the sister of Tubalcain was Noema. 4:23. And Lamech said to his wives Ada and Sella: Hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech, hearken to my speech: for I have slain a man to the wounding of myself, and a stripling to my own bruising. I have slain a man, etc.... It is the tradition of the Hebrews, that Lamech in hunting slew Cain, mistaking him for a wild beast; and that having discovered what he had done, he beat so unmercifully the youth, by whom he was led into that mistake, that he died of the blows. 4:24. Sevenfold vengeance shall be taken for Cain: but for Lamech seventy times sevenfold.
Lines 622–633
4:25. Adam also knew his wife again: and she brought forth a son, and called his name Seth, saying: God hath given me another seed for Abel, whom Cain slew. 4:26. But to Seth also was born a son, whom he called Enos: this man began to call upon the name of the Lord. Began to call upon, etc.... Not that Adam and Seth had not called upon God, before the birth of Enos; but that Enos used more solemnity in the worship and invocation of God.