Genesis 4:2

After those boys grew up, Abel ◄tended/took care of► sheep and goats, and Cain became a farmer.

Translation for Translators

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 ◄had sex/slept► with his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son whom she named Cain, which sounds like the word that means ‘produce’, because, she said, “By Yahweh’s help I have produced a son.” Some time later she gave birth to another son, and she named him Abel.

3One day Cain harvested some of the crops he had grown and brought them to Yahweh as a gift for him,

Read all of Genesis 4

Cross References

Genesis 4:25Adam continued to ◄have sex/sleep► with [EUP] his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to another son, whom she named Seth, which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘given’, because, she said, “God has given me another child to take the place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”

Genesis 30:29Jacob replied, “You know how I have worked for you, and you know that your livestock have increased greatly as I have taken care of them.

Genesis 46:32The men are all shepherds. They take care of their livestock, and they have brought with them their sheep and goats and cattle, and everything else that they own.’

Exodus 3:1Moses/I was taking care of the sheep that belonged to his/my father-in-law Jethro, the priest of the Midian people. He/I led the flock across the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain that was later called Sinai, the ◄mountain that had been dedicated to God/taboo mountain►.

Psalms 127:3Children are a gift that comes to parents from Yahweh; they are a reward/blessing from him.

Luke 11:51starting from Adam’s son Cain killing his brother Abel and continuing until they killed the prophet Zechariah in the holy place between the altar and the temple.’ Yes, what I am saying is true [MTY]. God will punish you people who have observed my ministry, you people whom he considers to be guilty [MTY] for killing all those prophets!

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