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Cain and Abel took presents to God
1 Adam slept with his wife Eve and at the right time she had a baby boy and Eve named him Cain. She said, “The Lord helped me to have a son.” 2 Later on Eve had another son, and she named him Abel.
When the boys were grown up, Abel looked after sheep, and Cain got the ground ready to grow food plants. 3 One day, Cain wanted to show respect to the Lord, so he took some food from his garden and gave it to the Lord. 4 Abel wanted to show respect to the Lord too, so he went and took some of the first born sheep. He killed them, and gave the best parts to the Lord. +
God was happy with Abel and he was happy with what Abel gave him. 5 But God was not happy with Cain, and he was not happy with what Cain gave him. And so, Cain got very angry and his face had an ugly look.
6 The Lord said “Cain, why are you angry? Why do you look so sad? 7 If you do the right thing, I will be happy with you. But, if you don't do the right thing, look out. You are thinking the wrong way. It is like you have a wild animal inside your head that wants you to do all sorts of bad things. You have to be the boss of your thinking.”
8 But Cain went and found his brother Abel and said to him, “Let's go for a walk.” And while they were walking, Cain hit his brother and killed him.+
9 Later on, the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
Cain said, “I don't know. It's not my job to look after him.” 10 The Lord said to Cain, “Why have you done this really bad thing? I can see your brother's blood on the ground, and it is like his blood is calling out to me. That blood is telling me that you killed your brother.+ 11 You killed your brother and the ground soaked up his blood. And so I am going to put a curse on you. From now on the ground will be your enemy. 12 And if you try to grow plants in the ground, nothing will grow for you. You will always go from place to place, and you will never settle down anywhere.”
13 Cain said to the Lord, “You are too hard on me. 14 You are forcing me away from you and this country and I will not be able to grow food for myself. I will have to walk around from place to place and never settle down. And anyone that finds me will kill me. Yes God, you are being too hard on me.”
15 Then the Lord said, “Cain, I promise you, that if someone kills you, I will punish that person 7 times more than I punished you.” Then the Lord put a special mark on Cain to stop anyone from killing him.
The family that came from Cain
16 Then Cain went away from the Lord and lived in a country called Nod. Nod was on the east side of the Garden of Eden. 17 Cain slept with his wife, and they had a baby son and they named him Enock. Cain built a town, and he called the town, Enock for his son. 18 Enock grew up and he had a son named Irad.
Irad grew up and he had a son named Methu-jayel.
Methu-jayel grew up, and he had a son named Methu-shayel.
Methu-shayel grew up and had a son named Larmek. 19 Larmek grew up and married 2 women. The name of one wife was Adah. The name of the other wife was Zillah. 20 Larmek's wife Adah had a baby boy named Jabal.
Jabal grew up and he was the first person to live in a tent and look after sheep and bullocks. 21 Adah had another son, a brother for Jabal. His name was Jubal.
Jubal grew up and he was the first person to play music on an instrument like a guitar and other instruments that had pipes. 22 Larmek's other wife Zillah had a son named Tubal-Cain, and a daughter named Naymah.
Tubal-Cain grew up and made tools from iron and another brown metal called bronze.
23-24 One day Larmek said to his 2 wives,
“Adah and Zillah, listen to me.
A long time ago, Cain killed his brother,
And God punished him.
If anyone killed Cain,
God said he would punish that person 7 times more.
Well, I killed a man that hurt me.
But, if someone kills me,
that person must get payback 77 times more.”+
Adam and Eve had another son
25 Adam slept with his wife again, and they had another son. Eve named him Seth. She said, “God has given me another son to take Abel's place in the family.” 26 Seth grew up and had a son and they named him Enosh.
It was about this time that people started to pray to the Lord and show him respect.
+ 4:4 Hebrews 11:4 + 4:8 Matthew 23:35; Luke 11:51; 1 John 3:12 + 4:10 Hebrews 12:24 + 4:23-24 Matthew 18:22