Verses 11 and 12 take up the punishment of Cain. And now marks a consequence of Cain’s action.

You are cursed from the ground: the opening words in Hebrew are in the form of the recognized formula seen in 3.17 for the beginning of a curse against someone. In Adam’s case the ground was cursed, although the effect of the curse was directed against Adam himself; however, in this case it is Cain who is cursed directly. Many languages have curse formulas that are equivalent to the Hebrew “cursed [are] you” and which are suitable here. From the ground means that the soil will not produce crops for Cain. Good News Translation has made this thought clear by saying “You are placed under a curse and can no longer farm the soil.” It is also possible to interpret from the as meaning “more than,” and so the expression can mean “You are cursed more than the ground was cursed.” However, the first part of verse 12, as well as verse 14, makes it probable that the first interpretation is to be preferred. This whole clause may also be translated “I curse you, and nothing you plant in the soil will grow” or “I put a curse on you so that the soil will produce no more food for you.”

Which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood: its mouth refers to the mouth of the ground. This poetic figure is also used of Sheol in Isa 5.14. Good News Translation translates “soaked up you brother’s blood” and then adds a simile, “as if it had opened its mouth to receive it.” In some languages it may be better to translate this clause as a separate sentence; for example, “This is the soil that has soaked up your dead brother’s blood.” In some languages it may be possible to retain the force of the metaphor by saying, as in Biblia Dios Habla Hoy, “that has drunk the blood of the brother you killed.” If such expressions are not possible, it may be adequate to translate, for example, “It is the ground on which your brother’s blood has fallen” or “… which was wet with your brother’s blood.”

From your hand refers to the hand of Cain used to murder his brother and cause him to bleed. This expression is one in which a part of the body actually stands for the whole person, and it emphasizes Cain’s responsibility for his brother’s death: “You did it!” This is well translated by Good News Translation “… you killed him,” and New English Bible “… blood which you have shed.”

This verse may need to be restructured in some languages. The reason or basis for the curse on Cain is hidden away at the end in the expression your brother’s blood from your hand; but this may come more naturally at the beginning, or immediately following the opening curse formula. Examples from two translations are: “Because you killed your brother and his blood flowed down onto the ground, big trouble will take hold of you:…” and “This is the strong word I have for you: you killed your brother and made the ground drink his blood; so now I am putting a taboo on the ground against you….”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

The first part of this verse extends the meaning of the curse, while the second part adds something more to the curse.

When you till the ground: till is as in 2.5. No longer yield to you its strength means “it [the ground] will not produce or grow anything.” According to Anchor Bible this is a poetic use of strength for “produce”; Revised English Bible has “its produce” and New International Version “its crops.” Good News Translation combines both of these senses: “… crops, the ground will not produce anything.” Negatively we may say “the soil will be sterile, infertile, unproductive.” One good example from an existing translation says “The ground will withhold its goodness, and food will not be able to grow in it.” Another says “The ground will not fruit its fruits for you any more.”

You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth: a fugitive and a wanderer translates two similar-sounding Hebrew participles linked by “and,” a construction that suggests, according to some, a single idea, and so “homeless wanderer” (Good News Translation and Anchor Bible). Others treat the two words as separate ideas. For example, Revised English Bible “a wanderer, a fugitive on the earth.” Fugitive here suggests fleeing or escaping from God and from people. The word rendered wanderer refers in other contexts to a person’s unstable movements, as in “to totter” or “to stagger.” On the earth refers to the whole world and emphasizes the extent of Cain’s punishment: he will have no home anywhere, and he will have to wander everywhere. This part of the curse means that Cain will be cut off from his family and relatives. Bible en français courant says “You will be uprooted, always roaming over the earth.” This may also be translated “You will be without a home and always drifting everywhere.”

In trying to express the meaning of this Hebrew phrase, many translations include three elements:
(1) Cain will have no place or home of his own;
(2) he will be a “traveler,” always on the move;
(3) he will keep on going round and round, all over the world or to every place in the world.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

Cain shows no remorse for having killed his brother, but now he complains that the sentence given to him by God is too severe.

My punishment: that is, “the punishment you have given me.” Punishment translates what is literally “my iniquity”; however, the focus is not on what Cain has done wrong but rather on its consequences, and so My punishment is appropriate. For a similar use of “iniquity” in the sense of punishment and translated in that way, see 1 Sam 28.10. Greater than I can bear means “more than I am able to take,” “greater than I can endure.” This verse may be translated, for example, “You are punishing me so severely that I will not be able to take it” or “This punishment is harder than I can stand.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .

This verse is a lament or complaint. Cain directs his complaint against God, a complaint about the punishment imposed on him, and against his potential enemy. Translators should try to use whatever features their own language has to bring a complaining or whining tone into their rendering of Cain’s words. Behold is the same term as used in 3.22, but in this context it is one of the features that mark the words that follow as a lament. One recent translation has focused on this feature and used an equivalent local expression “You look!” to make Cain’s words easy for all readers to recognize as a complaint.

Thou hast driven me this day …: driven translates a verb meaning “to send away, banish, expel” and is the same verb used in 3.24, “drove out.” This day refers to the time when Cain is lamenting; that is, “today.” Good News Translation “you are driving me…” makes the action present time, and so “today” can be omitted. Away from the ground refers back to the words of the curse in verse 11, “cursed from the ground.” See verse 11 for comments. In translation this expression should point clearly to the land that is worked to produce food. In English “off the land” (Good News Translation, Revised English Bible) expresses this well. We may also say, for example, “away from the fields [or, gardens] where we grow food” or “away from being a farmer.”

And from thy face I shall be hidden: face [of God] is an idiomatic expression meaning “from God’s presence” or “from the place where God is.” Some scholars have argued that Cain refers here to the home of the Kenite tribe, and that the ground refers to the land of Canaan. However, this view presupposes that the narrative is set in Canaan when the people of Israel are settled there. This is very unlikely.

Some interpreters understand that face [of God] in from thy face I shall be hidden refers to God’s anger; but in the context of a lament, it is more likely that Cain is complaining that he will be cut off from God’s blessing and kindness, or that he is being banished from God’s protecting presence, and so exposed to death by revenge. Good News Translation has “away from your presence.” Bible en français courant says “I shall have to hide myself far from you,” which is a good translation model.

A fugitive and a wanderer on the earth are the same words as in verse 12. Whoever finds me does not suggest that people will be actively pursuing or looking for Cain, but rather that people will happen to meet him wherever he is wandering. The New English Bible rendering “Anyone who meets me” gives the sense. Good News Translation has “anyone who finds me” here, but “anyone who met him” where the same verb is used in verse 15. This has also been translated “if someone sees me…” in the sense of the person recognizing Cain as a fugitive from justice. In one other translation Cain’s emotion and the tone of lament are brought out at this point by saying “I am afraid, lest anyone who meets me….”

Slay me translates the same verb used in Gen 4.8. The narrator is not concerned that, according to the information so far in his story, there is no one else around who could murder Cain.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .