Genesis 4:11 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

NIV: Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.

NASB: Now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

CSB: So now you are cursed, alienated from the ground that opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood you have shed.

NLT: Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood.

KJV: And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;

NKJV: So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

When Adam sinned, God pronounced a curse on the land on which Adam would have to work (Genesis 3:17–19). Here, as well, God pronounces a curse on both Cain and on the ground in response to Cain's sin and rebellion.

The beginning of this curse is that Cain, himself, would be "cursed from the ground." Cain had murdered his brother in the field. The ground had received Abel's blood. In a form of poetic justice, the ground would no longer give back to Cain any crops. Cain's days of working the ground to make a living for himself were over. This punishment fits the crime on several levels. It was Cain's offering—presumably inferior—of crops which displeased God in the first place (Genesis 4:3–5). Cain's choice not to obey, but to dig deeper into sin, resulted in him losing everything.

Losing his livelihood was a threat to Cain's continued existence, but it isn't the end of his curse.

Genesis 4:1–16 tells the beginning of human history in the wake of Adam's and Eve's sin and separation from God. This passage details the murder of Abel by his older brother Cain, the first son of Adam and Eve. Cain and Abel work the ground and tend sheep. They worship God, but Cain kills Abel in a fit of envy over God's rejection of Cain and his offering. The first human born on earth becomes the first murderer. God forces Cain to leave his family and wander the earth, but God also marks Cain with a promise of great vengeance on anyone who would kill him.

The consequences of sin become apparent in chapter 4: envy, arrogance, rebellion, murder, punishment, separation from family, and separation from God. Adam and Eve's firstborn son, Cain, jealously murders his brother Abel and loses everything. Adam and Eve lose them both. Cain's descendants amplify his sinfulness. Still, God provides help for Eve in childbirth and even provides protection for Cain in his wandering. Eve remains a woman of faith, even in her loss. And the sons of Seth, born after the murder of Abel, become a people who proclaim the name of the Lord.

The first three chapters of Genesis explain the creation and loss of paradise, as Adam and Eve are separated from God both physically and spiritually. Their relationship with Him does not end, however. Eve recognizes His help in bearing her son Cain and later Seth. Cain and Abel both worship God until Cain kills Abel. God provides protection for Cain, whose descendants become innovative, artful, arrogant, and violent. The descendants of Seth, however, begin to call on the Lord's name. This chapter bridges the story of Genesis from our ultimate origins to the story of Noah, introduced in the next chapter.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.

Accessed 5/10/2024 8:44:15 AM