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Genesis Chapter 4

Old Testament · Hebrew original · 26 verses

Genesis 4 traces the first murder and its aftermath. Cain, a farmer, brings an offering; his brother Abel, a shepherd, brings a better one. God accepts Abel's offering but not Cain's. Angry and jealous, Cain kills Abel in the field. God confronts Cain, curses him to be a wanderer, but also places a protective mark on him.

The chapter then records Cain's descendants and the birth of Seth as a replacement for Abel. The pattern moves from sin and judgment to God's mercy and continued hope. The central thread is that human sin escalates quickly, yet God does not abandon humanity, preserving a line through Seth through whom people begin to call on God.

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