My Unconventional Bible Study Series

Leaflet Edition

Genesis 4

Written by Janice Gaynor

Genesis 4

King James Version

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.

3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord.

4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering:

5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?

7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

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.

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.

13 And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear.                                                                                             

14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.

15 And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

16 And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

17 And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.

18 And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech.

19 And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

20 And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle.

21 And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.

22 And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.

23 And Lamech said unto his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice; ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.

24 If Cain shall be avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy and sevenfold.

25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

26 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.

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 The following pages will outline my view on the above chapter.

Before starting my Bible Study, let me state that the Bible is one of my favourite books. I love the stories and the advice that it gives. I think it is a book full of lots of good philosophy, and I live by most of the principles and guidelines of the Bible. I was baptized at age 16 in the Seventh Day Adventist church. Not long after I got baptized, I decided to read the entire, cover to cover, starting at Genesis 1 and stopping at the chapter of Revelation. That’s how I have been doing things since I was a little girl – since as I have become a Christian, then I should read its official book, the Bible, from cover to cover. I was already pretty used to reading books from cover to cover as I enjoyed reading. Now, I consider myself to have good comprehension and to be good with the English Language. After all, I did CXC English Language at that same age, 16 years old, and passed it. Some Jamaicans like to say that the Bible contradicts itself. You may put it that way, but from I decided to read the entire Bible properly, I found questionable things in it. I am a brave soul, so I am not afraid to admit that the Bible is not a perfect book. With that said, let’s delve into things that I find questionable in Genesis 4. If you would like to read my full Bible Study Series, from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, contact me.

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Verses 7 to 9

7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

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.

9 And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?

In these three verses, God tells Cain that he is going to let sin rule him, then Cain kills his brother, Abel, and then God asks Cain where is his brother, Abel.

Okay, God has omniscience. That means that God has all knowledge, including knowing the past, present and future. Therefore when God told Cain that he would let sin rule him, He already knew that Cain was going to kill Abel. Now why did God allow that to happen. Is that the attitude of a loving Father? He allowed Cain to kill Abel.

Verses 11 to 12

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.

In these verses, God punishes Cain for killing Abel.

Okay, Cain’s punishment is that the ground will not yield good food when he tries to grow foods, which is his livelihood. That’s really harsh punishment coming from a loving Father. My general knowledge tells me that loving parents usually forgive their children of whatever they do. This very harsh punishment therefore doesn’t seem like a loving parent to me.

Verses 13 to 15

13 And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear.                                                                                             

14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.

15 And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

In these verses, Cain complains about his harsh punishment and says that anyone who finds him will him. Then God says that vengeance will be upon anyone who kills Cain and proceeds to put a mark on Cain to prevent anyone finding him killing him.

Okay, two things here. First, God will pronounce vengeance on anyone who finds Cain and kills. Why is God so harsh with anyone who kills Cain. Isn’t Cain a horrible murderer who God Himself is punishing? Therefore, this means that God can someone for doing wrong, but other humans cannot. Second, ‘if anyone finds Cain and kills him’ – wait a minute here! Anyone who? Who should find Cain? So far we’ve read that Adam and Eve were the first persons that God created. Then Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel. Therefore, if Cain had killed Abel, then only Adam and Eve are left with Cain. So who is going to find Cain and kill him? Would it be his parents, Adam and Eve? Or maybe one of his sisters then, since females were not important enough to mention in the Bible? But the way ‘anyone’ was mentioned, it sounds like many other people were around apart from Adam, Eve and Cain. Oh, oh. There’s a mistake by the author here. He forgot that only three people were supposed to be left in the world. Oh, oh.

Verses 16 to 26

These verses indicate that many people were on the earth – the men having children and Cain building a city, as well some of the men being fathers and instructors of these persons and that persons. Also, in those days, brothers and sisters must had had intercourse with each other.

-       The End of This Leaflet. Thanks for Reading. -

This is a leaflet. Other leaflets, booklets and more comprehensive books are written by me. Contact me regarding them. Feel free to share them as you wish. Written by Janice Gaynor – tutor and author – Copyright © 2025. All rights reserved. Techno Teacher JA.