Genesis 4:9

And the LORD said unto Cain: 'Where is Abel thy brother?' And he said: 'I know not; am I my brother's keeper?'

JPS TaNaKH 1917

In The King James Version

And the LORD said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper?

In Context

8And Cain spoke unto Abel his brother. And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

10And He said: 'What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the ground.

Read all of Genesis 4

Cross References

Genesis 37:26And Judah said unto his brethren: 'What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood?

Job 22:13And thou sayest: 'What doth God know? Can He judge through the dark cloud?

Psalms 9:13(9-14) Be gracious unto me, O LORD, behold mine affliction at the hands of them that hate me; Thou that liftest me up from the gates of death;

Proverbs 28:13He that covereth his transgressions shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall obtain mercy.

Matthew Henry on Genesis 4:9

8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. We have here the progress of Cain's anger, and the issue of it in Abel's murder, which may be considered two ways:— I. As Cain's sin; and a scarlet, crimson, sin it was, a sin of the first magnitude, a sin against the light and law of nature, and which the consciences even of bad men have startled at. See in it, 1. The sad effects of sin's entrance into the world and… Read the whole commentary →

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