Yahweh said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why has the expression of your face fallen?
Parallel translations
- KJV And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
- BSB “Why are you angry,” said the LORD to Cain, “and why has your countenance fallen?
- NKJV So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?
- NASB Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why is your face gloomy?
- NLT “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected?
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 graciously questions Cain about his anger and downcast face. It shows God reaching out to warn and correct before sin takes hold.
Overview
Rather than abandoning Cain, God comes to him with searching questions, inviting self-examination. This divine confrontation is an act of mercy, giving Cain opportunity to turn from his rising resentment. God's pursuit of the sinner before he falls reflects the patient grace that runs throughout Scripture.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Isa 1:18“Come now, and let us reason together,” says Yahweh: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
- Job 5:2For resentment kills the foolish man, and jealousy kills the simple.
- Luke 15:31–32“He said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.
- Jer 2:31Generation, consider Yahweh’s word. Have I been a wilderness to Israel? Or a land of thick darkness? Why do my people say, ‘We have broken loose. We will come to you no more?’
- Mic 6:3–5My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me!
- Matt 20:15Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’
- John 4:8–11For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.
- Jer 2:5Yahweh says, “What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after worthless vanity, and have become worthless?
- John 4:1–4Therefore when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
- 1 Chr 13:11–13David was displeased, because Yahweh had broken out against Uzza. He called that place Perez Uzza, to this day.
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 4:6 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.