Genesis 4:2

After that, they had another son, and she gave him the name Abel. Abel grew up, and he looked after sheep and goats all the time. Cain grew up, and he became a gardener. He dug the ground and grew plants for people to eat.

Plain English Version

In The King James Version

And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

In Context

1Adam and Eve slept together, like a man does with his wife, and then Eve had a baby boy. Eve said, “God has helped me make another human.” So she gave him the name Cain. That name means make.

3One day, Cain brought a gift to give to God. He brought some food from his garden.

Read all of Genesis 4

Cross References

Genesis 4:25Adam and Eve slept together again, like a man does with his wife, and they had another son, and they gave him the name Seth. That name means gave. Eve said, “God gave me another son to take the place of Abel, our son that Cain killed.”

Genesis 30:29Jacob said to Laban, “Look, you know that I worked really hard for you. When I came here, you only had a few animals. I looked after those animals for you, and they kept on having lots of babies, so now you have lots and lots of animals. Yes, Yahweh my God was good to you all the time that I worked for you. But I don’t have any animals myself. So now it’s time for me to look after myself and my own family.”

Genesis 46:32All the men in my father’s family, they look after animals. They brought all their sheep here, and all their cows, and everything else that they own.’”

Luke 11:51Abel was the first one of God’s men to die. And Zekariah was the last one to die. They killed him at God’s ceremony house, near the place where they kill animals and burn them, to give them to God. Yes, they killed those men, but God will punish you people that are alive today too.

Matthew Henry on Genesis 4:2-3

Cain and Abel. ( b. c. 3875.) 1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord . 2 And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Adam and Eve had many sons and daughters, ch. v. 4 . But Cain and Abel seem to have been the two eldest. Some think they were twins, and, as Esau and Jacob, the elder hated and the younger loved. Though God had cast our first parents out of paradise, he did not write… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Genesis 4:2