“Now Cain said to
his brother Abel, ‘Let’s go to the field.’ And while they were in
the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Then the Lord said
to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’
‘I don’t know,’ He
replied. ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’
The Lord said,
‘What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me
from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the
ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from
your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its
crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.’
Cain said to the
Lord, ‘My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving
me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be
a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill
me.’ But the Lord said to him, ‘Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over.’ Then the Lord put a mark on Cain so that no-one who found him would kill him. So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence…”
--Genesis 4:8-16
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