When you till the ground, it will no longer yield its produce to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”
Parallel translations
- WEB From now on, when you till the ground, it won’t yield its strength to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth.”
- KJV When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.
- NKJV When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.”
- NASB When you cultivate the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you; you will be a wanderer and a drifter on the earth.”
- NLT No longer will the ground yield good crops for you, no matter how hard you work! From now on you will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”
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
The ground will no longer yield to Cain, and he will become a restless wanderer. It is the sentence of fruitless toil and rootless exile for his sin.
Overview
Cain's livelihood as a farmer is broken, and he is condemned to wander without a settled home. The judgment severs him from both productive work and stable community, deepening the alienation introduced at the fall. His restless exile pictures the unsettled condition of all who live estranged from God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Hos 9:17My God will reject them because they have not obeyed Him; and they shall be wanderers among the nations.
- Lev 26:20and your strength will be spent in vain. For your land will not yield its produce, and the trees of the land will not bear their fruit.
- Lev 26:36As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.
- Deut 28:23–24The sky over your head will be bronze, and the earth beneath you iron.
- Deut 28:65–66Among those nations you will find no repose, not even a resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul.
- Gen 4:14Behold, this day You have driven me from the face of the earth, and from Your face I will be hidden; I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
- Jer 20:3–4The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The LORD does not call you Pashhur, but Magor-missabib.
- Rom 8:20For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope
- Gen 3:17–18And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.
- Ps 109:10May his children wander as beggars, seeking sustenance far from their ruined homes.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 4:12 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.