Cain and Abel

First two sons of Adam and Eve

This article is about the first and second sons of Adam and Eve. For other uses, see Cain and Abel (disambiguation).

Cain slaying Abel, by Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1600

In the biblical Book of Genesis, Cain[a] and Abel[b] are the first two sons of Adam and Eve.[1] Cain, the firstborn, was a farmer, and his brother Abel was a shepherd. The brothers made sacrifices, each from his own fields, to God. God had regard for Abel's offering, but had no regard[2] for Cain's. Cain killed Abel and God cursed Cain, sentencing him to a life of transience. Cain then dwelt in the land of Nod (נוֹד, 'wandering'), where he built a city and fathered the line of descendants beginning with Enoch.

In the Qur'an, Cain and Abel are known as Qābīl (Arabic: قابيل) and Hābīl (هابيل), respectively. The events of the story in the Qur'an are virtually the same as the Hebrew Bible narrative. Both brothers offered individual sacrifices to God; God accepted Abel's sacrifice and rejected Cain's; out of jealousy, Cain slew Abel – the first case of murder committed on Earth.

## Genesis narrative

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Cain leadeth Abel to death, by James Tissot, c. 1900

The story of Cain's murder of Abel and its consequences is told in Genesis 4:1–18:[3]

> Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have produced a man with the help of the Lord."[i] Next she bore his brother Abel.[ii] Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. The Lord said to Cain,

>> "Why are you angry,
>  and why has your countenance fallen?
>  If you do well,
>  will you not be accepted?
>  And if you do not do well,
>  sin is lurking at the door;
>  its desire is for you,
>  but you must master it."

> Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let us go out to the field."[iii] And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him.

> Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?"[iv] And the Lord said, "What have you done? Listen; your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground! And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.[v] When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth." Cain said to the Lord, "My punishment is greater than I can bear! Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me." Then the Lord said to him, "Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance." And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him.

> Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch; and he built a city, and named it Enoch after his son Enoch.

> — Book of Genesis, 4:1–18[4]

### Translation notes

[edit]

1. ^ 4:1 – The Hebrew verb "knew" implies intimate or sexual knowledge, along with possession. The name "Cain", which means "smith", resembles the verb translated as "gotten" but also possibly meaning "to make". (Alter 2008:29).
2. ^ 4:2 – Abel's name could be associated with "vapor" or "puff of air". (Alter 2008:29).
3. ^ 4:8 – "Let us go out to the field" does not appear in the Masoretic Text, but is found in other versions including the Septuagint and Samaritan Pentateuch.
4. ^ 4:9 – the phrase traditionally translated "am I my brother's keeper?" is Hebrew "Hă-šōmêr 'āḥî 'ānōḵî?". "Keeper" is from the verb shamar (שמר), 'guard, keep, watch, preserve.'
5. ^ 4:10–12 – Cain is cursed min-ha-adamah, from the earth, being the same root as "man" and Adam.

## Origins

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### Etymology

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Cain and Abel are traditional English renderings of the Hebrew names. Cain (Hebrew, Kayin), derives from kinyan, or acquisition. Abel (Hebrew, Hevel) means empty, vain, or transitory.[5]

### Context of the story

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The story has interpretations. Abel, the first murder victim, is sometimes seen as the first martyr, while Cain, the first murderer, is sometimes seen as an ancestor of evil. Some scholars suggest the pericope may have been based on a Sumerian story representing the conflict between nomadic shepherds and settled farmers.[citation needed] Modern scholars typically view the stories of Adam and Eve and Cain and Abel to be about the development of civilization during the age of agriculture; not the beginnings of man, but when people first learned agriculture, replacing the ways of the hunter-gatherer.[6] It has also been seen as a depiction of nomadic conflict, the struggle for land and resources (and divine favour) between nomadic herders and sedentary farmers.[7][8]

The academic theologian Joseph Blenkinsopp holds that Cain and Abel are symbolic rather than real.[9] Like almost all of the persons, places and stories in the primeval history (the first eleven chapters of Genesis), they are mentioned nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible, a fact that for some scholars suggests that the history is a late composition attached to Genesis to serve as an introduction.[10] The date is also disputed: the history may be as late as the Hellenistic period (first decades of the 4th century BCE)[11] or as early as the 9th-8th centuries BCE,[12] but the high level of Babylonian myth behind its stories has led others to date it to the Babylonian exile (6th century BCE).[13][14] A prominent Mesopotamian parallel to Cain and Abel is Enlil Chooses the Farmer-God,[15] in which the shepherd-god Emesh and the farmer-god Enten bring their dispute over which of them is better to the chief god Enlil,[16] who rules in favor of Enten (the farmer).[17]

## Christian interpretation

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Main articles: Cain and Abel

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The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, in Hebrews 11:4, makes a brief reference to the Cain and Abel story:

> By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain's. Through this he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts; he died, but through his faith he still speaks.

> — Hebrews 11:4, New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition[18]

## Islamic interpretation

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Main articles: Cain and Abel in Islam and Al-Ma'ida

Cain burying Abel: Persian miniature of a version of Stories of the Prophets

The story of Cain and Abel appears in the Quran 5:27–31:[19]

> [Prophet], tell them the truth about the story of Adam's two sons: each of them offered a sacrifice, and it was accepted from one and not the other. One said, 'I will kill you,' but the other said, 'God only accepts the sacrifice of those who are mindful of Him. If you raise your hand to kill me, I will not raise mine to kill you. I fear God, the Lord of all worlds, and I would rather you were burdened with my sins as well as yours and became an inhabitant of the Fire: such is the evildoers' reward.' But his soul prompted him to kill his brother: he killed him and became one of the losers. God sent a raven to scratch up the ground and show him how to cover his brother's corpse and he said, 'Woe is me! Could I not have been like this raven and covered up my brother's body?' He became remorseful.

> — The Quran, translated by Muhammad Abdel-Haleem

The story of Cain and Abel has been used as a deterrent from murder in Islamic tradition. Abdullah ibn Mas'ud reported that Muhammad said in a hadith:[20]

> No soul is wrongfully killed except that some of the burden falls upon the son of Adam, for he was the first to establish the practice of murder.

Muslim scholars were divided on the motive for Cain's murder of Abel, and why the brothers were obliged to offer sacrifices to God. Some scholars believed that Cain's motives were jealousy and lust. Both Cain and Abel desired to marry their sister, Adam's beautiful daughter, Aclima (Arabic: Aqlimia'). Seeking to end the dispute, Adam suggested that each present an offering to God. The one whose offering God accepted would marry Aclima. Abel, a generous shepherd, offered the fattest of his sheep as an oblation to God. But Cain, a miserly farmer, offered only a bunch of grass and some worthless seeds. God accepted Abel's offering and rejected Cain's—an indication that Abel was more righteous than Cain, and thus worthier of Aclima. As a result, it was decided that Abel would marry Aclima. Cain would marry her less beautiful sister. Blinded by anger and lust for Aclima, Cain sought to get revenge on Abel and escape with Aclima.[21][22]

According to another tradition, the devil appeared to Cain and instructed him how to exact revenge on Abel. "Hit Abel's head with a stone and kill him," whispered the devil to Cain. After the murder, the devil hurried to Eve shouting: "Eve! Cain has murdered Abel!" Eve did not know what murder was or how death felt. She asked, bewildered and horrified, "Woe to you! What is murder?" "He [Abel] does not eat. He does not drink. He does not move [That is what murder and death are]," answered the Devil. Eve burst into tears and started to wail madly. She ran to Adam and tried to tell him what happened. However, she could not speak because she could not stop wailing. Since then, women wail broken-heartedly when a loved one dies.[23] A different tradition narrates that while Cain was quarreling with Abel, the devil killed an animal with a stone in Cain's sight to show him how to murder Abel.[24]

After burying Abel and escaping from his family, Cain married and had children. They died in Noah's flood among tyrants and unbelievers.[25]

Some Muslim scholars puzzled over the mention of offerings in the narrative of Cain and Abel. Offerings and sacrifices were ordained only after the revelation of Tawrat to Moses in Islam. This suggested to some scholars, such as Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib, that the sons of Adam, as mentioned in the Quran, are actually two Israelites, not Cain and Abel.[24]

## Gnostic interpretation

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In the Apocryphon of John, a work used in Gnosticism, Cain and Abel are Archons, being the offspring of the lesser god or Demiurge called Yaldabaoth, placed over the elements of fire, wind, water and earth. In this narrative their true names are Yahweh and Elohim, but they are given their earthly names as a form of deception.[26][27]

## Legacy and symbolism

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Cain and Abel. Plaster cast after bronze (1425–1438) by Jacopo Della Quercia (1374–1438), Bologna, Italy. National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh Cain and Abel, 15th-century German depiction from Speculum Humanae Salvationis Cain and Abel, 16th-century painting by Titian

Allusions to Cain and Abel as an archetype of fratricide appear in numerous references and retellings, through medieval art and Shakespearean works up to present day fiction.[28]

The serpent seed explanation for Cain being capable of murder is that he may have been the offspring of a fallen angel or Satan himself, rather than being from Adam.[29][30][31]

A treatise on Christian Hermeticism, Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism, describes the biblical account of Cain and Abel as a myth, in that it expresses, in a form narrated for a particular case, an "eternal" idea. It argues that brothers can become mortal enemies through the very fact that they worship the same God in the same way. According to the author, the source of religious wars is revealed. It is not the difference in dogma or ritual which is the cause, but the "pretention to equality" or "the negation of hierarchy."[32]

There were other, minor traditions concerning Cain and Abel, of both older and newer date. The apocryphal Life of Adam and Eve tells of Eve having a dream in which Cain drank his brother's blood. In an attempt to prevent the prophecy from happening the two young men are separated and given different jobs.[33]

### Cultural references

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Like other prominent biblical figures, Cain and Abel appear in many works of art, including works by Titian, Peter Paul Rubens and William Blake.

Multiple plays allude to the story. In William Shakespeare's Hamlet, the characters King Claudius and King Hamlet are parallels of Cain and Abel.[34] Lord Byron also rewrote and dramatized the story in his own play Cain (1821), viewing Cain as symbolic of a sanguine temperament, provoked by Abel's hypocrisy and sanctimony.[35] The 2008 Danish stage play Biblen discusses and reenacts various Biblical stories, including Abel's murder by Cain.[36]

Many novels feature the characters, or are closely based on them. Miguel de Unamuno's 1917 novel Abel Sánchez: A Story of a Passion is a re-telling of the Cain and Abel story.[37] John Steinbeck's 1952 novel East of Eden (also a 1955 film) refers in its title to Cain's exile and contains discussions of the Cain and Abel story which then play out in the plot.[38] James Baldwin's 1957 short story, "Sonny's Blues", has been seen as alluding to the Cain and Abel story.[39][40] Author Daniel Quinn, first in his novel Ishmael (1992) and later in The Story of B (1996), proposes that the story of Cain and Abel is an account of early Semitic herdsmen observing the beginnings of what he calls totalitarian agriculture, with Cain representing the first 'modern' agriculturists and Abel the pastoralists.[41] José Saramago's 2009 novel Cain (novel) is a ironical re-telling of Cain's history.

They have also featured in television series and, allegorically, in film. In Dallas (1978), Bobby and J.R. Ewing have been described as variations of Cain and Abel.[42] More direct references include the appearance of Cain and Abel as characters in DC Comics since the 1950s. In 1989, Neil Gaiman made the two recurring characters in his graphic novel series The Sandman.[43] In Darren Aronofsky's allegorical film Mother! (2017), the characters "oldest son" and "younger brother" represent Cain and Abel.[44]

The Bruce Springsteen song "Adam Raised a Cain" (1978) invokes the symbolism of Cain.[45] It is also the title of a season 2 episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.[46]

American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold has a song called Chapter Four (2003) which is based on the story of Cain and Abel.[47] American heavy metal band Danzig has a song named Twist of Cain which lyrically is inspired by the story of Cain and Abel.[48]

## See also

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* Biblical figures in Islamic tradition
* Biblical narratives and the Qur'an
* Debate between sheep and grain, Sumerian creation myth that has been compared to the story of Cain and Abel
* Debate between Winter and Summer, Sumerian creation myth that has been compared to the story of Cain and Abel
* Nabi Habeel Mosque, considered to be the burial-place of Abel
* Seth, third son of Adam and Eve

## Notes

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1. ^ /keɪn/; Biblical Hebrew: קַיִן, romanized: Qayīn, in pausa קָיִן, Qāyīn; Ancient Greek: Κάϊν, romanized: Káïn; Arabic: قابيل/قايين, romanized: Qābīl / Qāyīn
2. ^ /ˈeɪbəl/; Biblical Hebrew: הֶבֶל, romanized: Heḇel, in pausa הָבֶל, Hāḇel; Ancient Greek: Ἅβελ, romanized: Hábel; Arabic: هابيل, romanized: Hābīl

## References

[edit]

### Citations

[edit]

1. ^ Schwartz, Loebel-Fried & Ginsburg 2004, p. 447.
2. ^ Graham, Wyatt (9 April 2021). "Why Did God Reject Cain's Offering?". The Gospel Coalition.
3. ^ Alter, Robert, trans. 2008. "Genesis 4." In The Five Books of Moses. p. 29.
4. ^ Genesis 4:1–18
5. ^ Zaslow, Rabbi David (30 October 2014). "WHAT'S IN A NAME: A SECRET ABOUT CAIN AND ABEL". Rabbi David Zaslow. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
6. ^ Kugel 1998, pp. 54–57.
7. ^ "Cain & Abel". World History Encyclopedia.
8. ^ "Cain and Abel's clash may reflect ancient Bronze Age rivalries". National Geographic. April 10, 2019. Archived from the original on March 14, 2021.
9. ^ Blenkinsopp 2011, p. 2.
10. ^ Sailhamer 2010, p. 301.
11. ^ Gmirkin 2006, pp. 240–41.
12. ^ Hendel 2012, p. 63.
13. ^ Gmirkin 2006, p. 6.
14. ^ Kugler & Hartin 2009, pp. 53–54.
15. ^ Kramer 1961, p. 49.
16. ^ Kramer 1961, pp. 50–51.
17. ^ Kramer 1961, p. 51.
18. ^ Hebrews 11:4
19. ^ Abel. "Abel - Ontology of Quranic Concepts from the Quranic Arabic Corpus". Corpus.quran.com. Retrieved 2015-12-17.
20. ^ Sahih Bukhari and Sahih Muslim
21. ^ Ibn Kathir. "Surat Al-Ma'ida." In Tafsir al-Qur'an al-adhim [Interpretation of the Holy Qur'an].
22. ^ Benslama, Fethi (2009). Psychoanalysis and the Challenge of Islam. U of Minnesota Press. p. 189\. ISBN 978-0816648887.
23. ^ Adapted from Ibn Abul-Hatim's narrative in Tafsir al-Qur'an al-adhim and Tafsir al-Tabari, Surat Al-Ma'ida
24. ^ a b Tafsir al-Qur'an al-adhim and Tafsir al-Tabari, Surat Al Ma'ida
25. ^ The Beginning and the End, Ibn Kathir – Volume I
26. ^ Marvin Meyer; Willis Barnstone (June 30, 2009). "The Secret Book of John". The Gnostic Bible. Shambhala. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
27. ^ "Gnosticism - Apocryphon of John". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 2022-01-28.
28. ^ Byron 2011, p. 93.
29. ^ Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the Jews, Vol. 1, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998, ISBN 0-8018-5890-9, pp. 105–09
30. ^ Luttikhuizen 2003, p. vii.
31. ^ Byron 2011, pp. 15–19.
32. ^ Powell, Robert, trans. [1985] 2002. Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism. pp. 14–15
33. ^ Williams, David. 1982. "Cain and Beowulf: A Study in Secular Allegory." p. 21. University of Toronto Press.
34. ^ Hamlin, Hannibal (2013). The Bible in Shakespeare. OUP Oxford. p. 154\. ISBN 978-0199677610.
35. ^ de Vries, Ad (1976). Dictionary of Symbols and Imagery. Amsterdam: North-Holland Publishing Company. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-7204-8021-4.
36. ^ "Bibelen (Nørrebro Teater)". jp.dk. 5 October 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-10-05. Retrieved 10 September 2018.
37. ^ Quinones, Ricardo J. (14 July 2014). The Changes of Cain: Violence and the Lost Brother in Cain and Abel Literature. Princeton University Press. p. 176\. ISBN 978-1-4008-6214-6.
38. ^ "Pop Culture 101: East of Eden". TCM.com. Archived from the original on 2016-04-06. Retrieved 2014-04-11.
39. ^ Stahlberg, Lesleigh Cushing; Hawkins, Peter S. (2017). The Bible in the American Short Story. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 43\. ISBN 978-1474237185.
40. ^ McKenzie, Barbara (1974). The Process of Fiction: Contemporary Stories and Criticism. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. pp. 45. ISBN 978-0155719866. "Baldwin establishes such a verbal clue when the narrator remembers his mothers warning."
41. ^ Whittemore, Amie. "Ishmael – Part 9: Sections 9–11". Cliffs Notes. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
42. ^ Mitchell, Jolyon P.; Marriage, Sophia (2003). Mediating Religion: Studies in Media, Religion, and Culture. A&C Black. ISBN 978-0567088079. Retrieved 2 September 2017 - via Google Books.
43. ^ Hughes, William (2015). The Encyclopedia of the Gothic. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1119064602. Retrieved 2 September 2017 - via Google Books.
44. ^ Adam White (September 23, 2017). "Mother! explained". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 2022-01-11. Retrieved September 30, 2017.
45. ^ Margotin, Philippe; Guesdon, Jean-Michel (2020). Bruce Springsteen All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. London: Cassell Illustrated. p. 112
46. ^ Calvert, Bronwen (2017). Being Bionic: The World of TV Cyborgs. I.B. Tauris.
47. ^ Parillo, Michael (December 2009). "DRUMMERS, FEATURE STORIES James "The Rev" Sullivan". Modern Drummer. Retrieved 26 October 2022. "We have a song called "Chapter Four" that's about the first murder ever, which is a story in the Bible. Matt [Shadows] writes all the lyrics, and he just thinks the first murder is a cool story."
48. ^ Gitter, Mike (October 1987). "Glenn Danzig: Resurrection of a Misfit". RIP magazine. Archived from the original on October 17, 2011. Retrieved September 19, 2023.

### Bibliography

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* Alter, Robert (2008). The Five Books of Moses: A Translation with Commentary. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 9780393070248.
* BDB, Francis Brown; Samuel Rolles Driver; Charles Augustus Briggs (1997) [1906]. The Brown Driver Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon: with an appendix containing the biblical Aramaic; coded with the numbering system from "Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible" (7. print. ed.). Peabody: Hendrickson. ISBN 978-1565632066.
* Byron, John (2011). Cain and Abel in Text and Tradition: Jewish and Christian Interpretations of the First Sibling Rivalry. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. ISBN 978-9004192522.
* Blenkinsopp, Joseph (2011). Creation, Un-creation, Re-creation: A Discursive Commentary on Genesis 1-11. New York: Bloomsbury T&T Clark. ISBN 978-0-567-37287-1.
* Craig, Kenneth M. Jr. (December 1999). Shepherd, David; Tiemeyer, Lena-Sofia (eds.). "Questions Outside Eden (Genesis 4.1-16): Yahweh, Cain, and Their Rhetorical Interchange". Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. 24 (86). SAGE Publications: 107–128\. doi:10.1177/030908929902408606. ISSN 1476-6728. S2CID 170152565.107-128&rft.date=1999-12&rft_id=https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:170152565#id-name=S2CID&rft.issn=1476-6728&rft_id=info:doi/10.1177/030908929902408606&rft.aulast=Craig&rft.aufirst=Kenneth+M.+Jr.&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Cain+and+Abel" class="Z3988">
* Day, John (2021). "Problems in the Interpretation of the Story of Cain and Abel". From Creation to Abraham: Further Studies in Genesis 1-11. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 78–97\. ISBN 978-0-567-70311-8.78-97&rft.pub=Bloomsbury+Publishing&rft.date=2021&rft.isbn=978-0-567-70311-8&rft.aulast=Day&rft.aufirst=John&rft_id=https://books.google.com/books?id=gIpFEAAAQBAJ&pg;=PA78&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Cain+and+Abel" class="Z3988">
* Doukhan, Abi (2016). Biblical Portraits of Exile: A Philosophical Reading. Oxon: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-4724-7241-0.
* Gmirkin, Russell E. (2006). Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus. Bloomsbury. ISBN 9780567134394.
* Hendel, Ronald (2012). "Historical Context". In Evans, Craig A.; Lohr, Joel N.; Petersen, David L. (eds.). The Book of Genesis: Composition, Reception, and Interpretation. BRILL. pp. 51–81\. ISBN 978-90-04-22653-1.51-81&rft.pub=BRILL&rft.date=2012&rft.isbn=978-90-04-22653-1&rft.aulast=Hendel&rft.aufirst=Ronald&rft_id=https://books.google.com/books?id=tB77B7HT23wC&pg;=PA51&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Cain+and+Abel" class="Z3988">
* Kugler, Robert; Hartin, Patrick (2009). An Introduction to the Bible. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802846365.
* Kramer, Samuel Noah (1961), Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium B.C.: Revised Edition, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press, ISBN 978-0-8122-1047-7
* Kugel, James L. (1998). Traditions of the Bible: A Guide to the Bible as it was at the Start of the Common Era. Cambridge, Massachusetts [u.a.]: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674791510.
* Luttikhuizen, Gerard P., ed. (2003). Eve's Children: The Biblical Stories Retold and Interpreted in Jewish and Christian traditions (Vol. 5 ed.). Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. ISBN 978-9004126152.
* Mann, Steven T. (September 2021). Shepherd, David; Tiemeyer, Lena-Sofia (eds.). "Let There Be Cain: A Clash of Imaginations in Genesis 4". Journal for the Study of the Old Testament. 46 (1). SAGE Publications: 79–95\. doi:10.1177/0309089221998390. ISSN 1476-6728. S2CID 238412495.79-95&rft.date=2021-09&rft_id=https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:238412495#id-name=S2CID&rft.issn=1476-6728&rft_id=info:doi/10.1177/0309089221998390&rft.aulast=Mann&rft.aufirst=Steven+T.&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Cain+and+Abel" class="Z3988">
* Sailhamer, John H. (2010). The Meaning of the Pentateuch: Revelation, Composition and Interpretation. InterVarsity Press. ISBN 9780830878888.
* Schlimm, Matthew R. (2011). "Part 3. In Search of A Brother's Keeper: Anger and Its Antitheses in Genesis – Ethics outside Eden: Cain and Abel". From Fratricide to Forgiveness: The Language and Ethics of Anger in Genesis. Siphrut: Literature and Theology of the Hebrew Scriptures. Vol. 7\. University Park, Pennsylvania: Eisenbrauns, imprint of Penn State University Press. pp. 135–143\. doi:10.5325/j.ctv1bxgwgm.15. ISBN 978-1-57506-224-2. S2CID 209438529.135-143&rft.pub=Eisenbrauns,+imprint+of+Penn+State+University+Press&rft.date=2011&rft_id=https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:209438529#id-name=S2CID&rft_id=info:doi/10.5325/j.ctv1bxgwgm.15&rft.isbn=978-1-57506-224-2&rft.aulast=Schlimm&rft.aufirst=Matthew+R.&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Cain+and+Abel" class="Z3988">
* Schwartz, Howard; Loebel-Fried, Caren; Ginsburg, Elliot K. (2004). Tree of Souls: The Mythology of Judaism. Oxford University Press. p. 447\. ISBN 978-0195358704.
* Zucker, David J. (February 2020). "My Punishment Is Too Great to Bear: Raising Cain". Biblical Theology Bulletin. 50 (1). SAGE Publications on behalf of Biblical Theology Bulletin Inc.: 7–21\. doi:10.1177/0146107919892839. ISSN 1945-7596. S2CID 213466632.7-21&rft.date=2020-02&rft_id=https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:213466632#id-name=S2CID&rft.issn=1945-7596&rft_id=info:doi/10.1177/0146107919892839&rft.aulast=Zucker&rft.aufirst=David+J.&rft_id=https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0146107919892839&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Cain+and+Abel" class="Z3988">

## Further reading

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* Aptowitzer, Victor (1922). Kain und Abel in der agada: den Apokryphen, der hellenistischen, christlichen und muhammedanischen literatur (Vol. 1 ed.). R. Löwit.
* Glenthøj, Johannes Bartholdy (1997). Cain and Abel in Syriac and Greek writers: (4th – 6th centuries). Lovanii: Peeters. ISBN 978-9068319095.
* A Practical Christian Commentary on Cain and Abel by Friedrich Justus Knecht, London, B. Herder (1910)

* Media related to Cain and Abel at Wikimedia Commons
* Texts on Wikisource:
* Bible (King James) / Genesis 4
* Book of Moses, Chapter 5 in Pearl of Great Price
* Cain
* Abel

## External links

[edit]

* Genesis 4 (KJV) at BibleGateway.com
* Story of Cain and Abel in Sura The Table (Al Ma'ida) Archived 2013-11-13 at the Wayback Machine
* Rashi on Genesis, Chapter 4, by Rashi
* Sanhedrin 37b, Sefaria

* v
* t
* e

Cain and Abel

Book of Genesis

Biblical characters|

* Adam
* Eve
* Cain
* Abel
* Enoch
* Awan

Portrayals in media|

| Film|

* East of Eden (1955)
* Caín (1984)
* La Biblia en pasta (1984)
* The Last Eve (2005)
* Year One (2009)
* Abel Cain (unmade)

|

Plays|

* Le Jeu d'Adam (12th century)
* Cain (1821)

Musicals|

* Children of Eden (1991)
* Here's Where I Belong (1968)

Literature|

* Book of the Penitence of Adam
* East of Eden (1952 novel)
* Abel Sánchez: The History of a Passion (1917)
* The Book of Lies (2008 novel)

Songs|

* "Should the Bible Be Banned" (1988)
* "Cain's Blood" (1995)

Other|

* Cain and Abel (Titian) (c. 1545 painting)
* Cain and Abel (Tintoretto) (c. 1550 painting)
* La mort d'Abel (1810 composition)
* The First Mourning (1888 painting)
* Cain and Abel (2009 TV series)
* Cain and Abel (DC Comics)

Related theology|

* Adam and Eve
* Gospel of Judas
* Curse and mark of Cain
* Serpent seed
* Cain and Abel in Islam
* Balbira and Kalmana
* Cainites

Other|

* Generations of Adam
* Timeline of Genesis patriarchs
* Land of Nod
* Dracula: The Dark Prince

* v
* t
* e

Adam and Eve

Source|

* Genesis creation narrative in the Book of Genesis
* Adam
* Eve

Offspring|

* Cain and Abel
* Cain
* Abel
* Aclima
* Luluwa
* Seth
* Awan
* Azura
* Jumella

Related theology|

* Fall of man
* Original sin
* Garden of Eden
* Tree of the knowledge of good and evil
* Serpents in the Bible
* Forbidden fruit
* Apple
* Fig leaf
* Figs in the Bible
* Adam's ale
* Adamic language
* Camael
* Protevangelium
* Rosh Hashanah
* Seed of the woman
* Shamsiel
* Lilith
* Tree of life
* Allegorical interpretations of Genesis

Other cultures|

* Adam–God doctrine
* Adam and Eve in Mormonism
* Adam in Islam
* Adam in rabbinic literature
* Al-A'raf
* Book of Moses
* Endowment
* Manu (Hinduism)
* Mashya and Mashyana
* Serpent seed
* Tree of Jiva and Atman
* Tree of life (Quran)
* Our Lady of Endor Coven

Film|

* Mama's Affair (1921)
* Good Morning, Eve! (1934)
* The Broken Jug (1937)
* The Original Sin (1948)
* The Private Lives of Adam and Eve (1960)
* El pecado de Adán y Eva (1969)
* La Biblia en pasta (1984)
* The Annunciation (1984)
* Second Time Lucky (1984)
* Adipapam (1988)
* Adam (1992)
* Babs (2000)
* The Last Eve (2005)
* Year One (2009)
* The Tragedy of Man (2011)
* Adam and Dog (2011)
* Tropico (2013)

Plays|

* Le Jeu d'Adam (12th century)
* The Broken Jug (1808)
* The Tragedy of Man (1861)
* The Creation of the World and Other Business (1972)

Musicals|

* The Apple Tree (1966)
* Dude (1972)
* Up from Paradise (1973)
* Children of Eden (1991)

Compositions|

* The Creation (1798)
* structure
* La mort d'Adam (1809)
* Ève (1875)
* Genesis Suite (1945)
* Lilith (2001)

Literature|

* Apocalypse of Adam
* Book of Moses
* Book of Abraham
* Books of Adam
* Book of the Penitence of Adam
* Cave of Treasures
* "El amigo de Él y Ella"
* Genesis A and Genesis B
* Harrowing of Hell
* Life of Adam and Eve
* Testament of Adam
* Testimony of Truth (3rd century)
* Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan (6th century)
* "Old Saxon Genesis" (9th century)
* "Adam lay ybounden" (15th century)
* Paradise Lost (1667)
* Le Dernier Homme (1805)
* Extracts from Adam's Diary (1904)
* Eve's Diary (1905)
* The Book of Genesis (2009)
* The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve (2017)

Art|

* Bernward Doors (1015)
* Tapestry of Creation (11th century)
* Expulsion from the Garden of Eden (1425)
* Vienna Diptych (15th century)
* The Last Judgment (1482)
* The Garden of Earthly Delights (1504)
* Adam and Eve (1507)
* The Creation of Adam (1512)
* The Haywain Triptych (1516)
* Eve, the Serpent and Death (1510s or 1520s)
* Adam and Eve (1528)
* Adam and Eve (1550)
* The Fall of Man (1550)
* Adam and Eve (c. 1550)
* The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man (1617)
* The Fall of Man (1628)
* Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden (c. 1650)
* The Four Seasons (1660s)
* The Koren Picture-Bible (1692–1696)
* Paradise Lost (19th century)
* Expulsion from the Garden of Eden (1828)
* The First Mourning (1888)
* Adam and Eve (1905)
* Adam and Eve (1909)
* Eve (1931)
* Adam and Eve (1932)
* The Serpent Chooses Adam and Eve (1958)
* Genesis (1960)

Songs|

* "Dese Bones G'wine Rise Again"
* "Adam-ondi-Ahman" (1835)
* "Forbidden Fruit" (1915)
* "The Garden of Eden" (1956)
* "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (1968)
* "Let's Give Adam and Eve Another Chance" (1970)
* "Man Gave Names to All the Animals" (1979)

Albums|

* The Cainian Chronicle (1996)
* Visions of Eden (2006)
* Snakes for the Divine (2010)

Geography|

* Adam-ondi-Ahman
* Tomb of Eve

Biology|

* Mitochondrial Eve
* Y-chromosomal Adam
* The Real Eve

Story within a story|

* Doraemon: Nobita's Diary on the Creation of the World
* Island of Love
* The Visitors

Television|

* "Adam & Eve" (1992)
* "Probe 7, Over and Out" (1963)
* "Simpsons Bible Stories"
* "In-A-Gadda-Da-Leela"
* "Daesong Heavy Industries II: Return to Innocence"
* "Holly Bibble"

Games|

* Demon: The Fallen (2002)

Other|

* Pre-Adamite
* Generations of Adam
* Cave of the Patriarchs
* Adam and Eve cylinder seal
* Genealogies of Genesis
* Carnal knowledge
* Legend of the Rood
* Ystorya Adaf
* Ransom theory of atonement

* v
* t
* e

* Book of Genesis

Primeval history (1–11)|

* Genesis creation narratives (1:1–2:3, 2:4–25)
* Adam and Eve
* Fall of man (3)
* Serpents in the Bible
* Cain and Abel (4)
* Genealogies of Genesis (5:1–6:8, 11:10–26)
* Genesis flood narrative (6:1–9:28)
* Sons of God
* Noah's Ark
* Curse of Ham (9:20–27)
* Generations of Noah and the origin of nations (10:1–11:9)
* Tower of Babel (11:1–9)

Patriarchal age (12–50)|

* Abraham (12–23)
* Abraham and Lot's conflict
* Battle of Siddim (14:1–17)
* Covenant of the pieces (15)
* Sodom and Gomorrah (19:1–28)
* Isaac (21–35)
* Binding of Isaac (22)
* Jacob and his sons (25–50)
* Jacob's Ladder (28)
* Jacob wrestling with the angel (32:22–32)
* Joseph and the coat of many colors (37–50)
* Blessing of Jacob (49)

Notable verses|

* 1:1
* In the beginning
* 1:2
* 1:3
* 1:4
* 1:5

Torah readings|

* Bereshit (1:1–6:8)
* Noach (6:9–11:32)
* Lech-Lecha (12:1–17:27)
* Vayeira (18:1–22:24)
* Chayei Sarah (23:1–25:18)
* Toledot (25:19–28:9)
* Vayetze (28:10–32:3)
* Vayishlach (32:4–36:43)
* Vayeshev (37:1–40:23)
* Miketz (41:1–44:17)
* Vayigash (44:18–47:27)
* Vayechi (47:28–50:26)

Sources|

* Priestly
* Jahwist
* Elohist

Analysis|

* Framework interpretation
* Allegorical interpretations
* Wife–sister narratives
* Arcana Cœlestia
* Pesher on Genesis

Manuscripts|

* Papyrus Berlin 17213
* Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 656
* Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1007

Text|

* Textual variations

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF

National|

* Germany

Artists|

* FID

People|

* Deutsche Biographie
* DDB

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