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.”
Parallel translations
- 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.
- 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 listen to him; and they will be wanderers among the nations.
- Lev 26:20Your strength will be spent in vain; for your land won’t yield its increase, neither will the trees of the land yield their fruit.
- Lev 26:36“‘As for those of you who are left, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a driven leaf will put them to flight; and they shall flee, as one flees from the sword. They will fall when no one pursues.
- Deut 28:23–24Your sky that is over your head will be brass, and the earth that is under you will be iron.
- Deut 28:65–66Among these nations you will find no ease, and there will be no rest for the sole of your foot; but Yahweh will give you there a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and pining of soul.
- Gen 4:14Behold, you have driven me out today from the surface of the ground. I will be hidden from your face, and I will be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth. Whoever finds me will kill me.”
- Jer 20:3–4On the next day, Pashhur released Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, “Yahweh has not called your name Pashhur, but Magormissabib.
- Rom 8:20For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
- Gen 3:17–18To Adam he said, “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice, and ate from the tree, about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ the ground is cursed for your sake. You will eat from it with much labor all the days of your life.
- Ps 109:10Let his children be wandering beggars. Let them be sought from their ruins.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.