Genesis 4:10

Yahweh said, “You have done a terrible thing [RHQ]! So now it is as though your younger brother’s voice is crying to me from the ground, demanding that his death must be avenged.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.

In Context

9Later, even though Yahweh knew what Cain had done, he said to Cain, “ Do you know where Abel, your younger brother, is?” Cain replied, “No, I do not know. ◄My job is not to guard my younger brother!/Am I supposed to take care of my younger brother?►” [RHQ]

11You have killed your younger brother, and the ground has soaked up his blood. So now I will expel you from this land and curse your efforts to produce crops.

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Cross References

Genesis 9:5I insist that murderers must be executed. Animals that kill people must also be executed. The reason that everyone who murders someone else must be executed is that

Exodus 3:7Then Yahweh said, “I have seen how cruelly they are treating my people in Egypt. I have heard them ◄wailing/crying out► for help because of what the slave-drivers are forcing them to do. I know how my people are suffering.

Joshua 7:19Then Joshua said to Achan, “Son, tell the truth [IDM]. Confess to Yahweh, the God whom we Israelis worship, what you have done. And tell me what you did, and do not try to ◄conceal anything/prevent me from knowing what you did►.”

2 Kings 9:26‘Yesterday I saw Ahab murder [MTY] Naboth and his sons here. And I solemnly promise that I will punish him right here in this same field!’ So take Joram’s corpse and throw it into that field! That will fulfill what Yahweh said would happen.”

Job 16:18When I die, I want the ground [APO] to act as though I had been murdered and cry out against those who killed me, and I do not want anyone to stop me while I am demanding that God act justly toward me.

Job 31:38If it were true that I have stolen land, with the result that it was as though its furrows cried out to accuse me of stealing;

Matthew Henry on Genesis 4:10-13

Cain's Punishment. ( b. c. 3875.) 9 And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper? 10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. 11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; 12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. We have here a… Read the whole commentary →

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Study Genesis 4:10