Genesis 4:9

Later, 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]

Translation for Translators

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

8But one day, Cain said to his younger brother Abel, “Let’s go for a walk in the fields.” So they went together. And when they were in the countryside, suddenly Cain attacked Abel and killed him.

10Yahweh 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.

Read all of Genesis 4

Cross References

Genesis 37:26Judah said to his older and younger brothers, “If we kill our younger brother and hide his body, ◄what will we gain?/we will not gain anything!► [RHQ]

Job 22:13So why do you say, ‘What does God know about what we are doing? He is hidden from us by dark clouds, so ◄ how can he judge us?/he certainly cannot judge us.► [RHQ]’

Psalms 9:13Yahweh, be merciful to me! Look at the ways that my enemies have injured me. Do not allow me to die because of these injuries.

Proverbs 28:13Those who refuse to confess/admit their sins will not prosper, but God acts mercifully/kindly toward those who confess their sins and turn away from their sinful behavior.

Acts 5:4Before you (sg) sold that land, you truly owned [RHQ] it. And after you sold it, you could [RHQ] certainly still have used the money any way you wanted to. So why did you (sg) ever think [RHQ] about doing this wicked thing? You were not merely trying to deceive us! No, you tried to deceive God himself!!”

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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