Cain and Abel

Cain and Abel, the first two sons to be born to Adam and Eve, responded to God in very different ways —Abel in faith and Cain in defiance.

After a while Adam and Eve had a baby. Eve said, “God has given me a son! I’ll call him ‘Cain’ because with God’s help I have acquired a son.” (Cain sounds like the Hebrew word for “acquire.”) She knew God had promised that with a descendant of hers God would judge Satan, so she was happy and probably wondered, “Could this be the one?” Later she gave birth to another son whom she named Abel.

As the boys grew up, Abel became a sheep farmer while Cain worked the soil and raised fruits and vegetables. One day Cain brought some of his harvest as a tribute to the Lord God. Abel also brought a gift; he killed the best of the firstborn lambs of his flock and offered the fat portions. God approved of Abel and his gift, but He did not approve of Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he could not hide his feelings.

God said to Cain, “Why this tantrum? Why are you walking around with such a sullen look on your face? When you do what you know to be right, won’t I accept you? But if you don’t do what is right, sin is crouching at the door ready to pounce. Sin is out to get you, but you must master it.”

Later Cain invited his brother, Abel, to go for a walk. When they were out in the field, Cain attacked Abel and killed him.

Then God asked Cain, “Where is your brother?”

“How should I know? Am I supposed to take care of my brother—am I his babysitter?”

God replied, “What have you done? I’ll tell you: you have killed your brother, and now his blood that poured out on the ground is crying out to Me. Now because you have done this, you are cursed and banished from the ground which soaked up Abel’s blood. No matter how hard you work the ground, it will no longer give you good crops. You will be a homeless wanderer on this earth all your life.”