And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand;
Parallel translations
- WEB Now you are cursed because of the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
- BSB Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
- NKJV So now you are cursed from the earth, which has 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.
- NLT Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has swallowed your brother’s blood.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God pronounces Cain cursed from the ground that received his brother's blood. It shows the personal judgment that falls on the unrepentant murderer.
Overview
Whereas the ground was cursed for Adam's sake, now Cain himself is cursed in relation to the ground stained by Abel's blood. The judgment fits the crime, alienating Cain from the soil he worked. This intensifying curse shows sin's deepening grip on humanity and the certainty of God's just response to bloodshed.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Gal 3:10For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
- Job 16:18O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place.
- Deut 28:15–20But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
- Gen 3:14And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
- Deut 27:16–26Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.
- Job 31:38–40If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;
- Isa 26:21For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
- Deut 29:19–21And it come to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst:
- Gen 4:14Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.
- Rev 12:16And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 4:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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