Genesis 4:8-16

8Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

9Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” And he replied, “I don’t know! Am I my brother’s guardian?”

10But the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!

11So now, you are banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

12When you try to cultivate the ground it will no longer yield its best for you. You will be a homeless wanderer on the earth.”

13Then Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is too great to endure!

14Look! You are driving me off the land today, and I must hide from your presence. I will be a homeless wanderer on the earth; whoever finds me will kill me.”

15But the Lord said to him, “All right then, if anyone kills Cain, Cain will be avenged seven times as much.” Then the Lord put a special mark on Cain so that no one who found him would strike him down.

16So Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.