When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the Lord.
Parallel translations
- WEB As time passed, Cain brought an offering to Yahweh from the fruit of the ground.
- KJV And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
- BSB So in the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruit of the soil as an offering to the LORD,
- NKJV And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord.
- NASB So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the Lord from the fruit of the ground.
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
Cain brings an offering to the Lord from the produce of the ground. It records the first act of worship by Adam's children.
Overview
Cain's bringing of an offering shows that worship of God continued among the first family. The text simply notes it came from the fruit of the ground, without yet evaluating it. The following verses contrast his offering with Abel's, drawing attention to the disposition behind the gift rather than merely its content.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Num 18:12“I have given to you all the best of the oil, and all the best of the vintage, and of the grain, the first fruits of them which they give to Yahweh.
- Lev 2:1–11“‘When anyone offers an offering of a meal offering to Yahweh, his offering shall be of fine flour. He shall pour oil on it, and put frankincense on it.
- 1 Kgs 17:7After a while, the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
- Neh 13:6But in all this, I was not at Jerusalem; for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king; and after some days I asked leave of the king,
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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 4:3 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.