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.
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.”
- BSB 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.”
- 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 cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.
- Lev 26:20And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.
- Lev 26:36And upon them that are left alive of you I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; and the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth.
- Deut 28:23–24And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass, and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
- Deut 28:65–66And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:
- 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.
- Jer 20:3–4And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magormissabib.
- Rom 8:20For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
- Gen 3:17–18And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
- Ps 109:10Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
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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
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