Bible Strands
Genesis 4:11
Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Cain immediately after Cain's admission of killing Abel, pronouncing judgment for the murder.
The words — אָר֣וּר ('a.Rur) means "cursed," and פָּצְתָ֣ה (pa.tze.Tah) translates literally as "has opened," describing the ground receiving Abel's blood.
The thread — The concept of divine cursing resurfaces in Galatians 3:10, and the motif of blood interacting with the earth appears in Job 16:18.
Why it lands — The text states that Cain is banished from the ground because it received his brother's blood, demanding acknowledgment that fratricide severs one's relationship with the earth and invites judgment.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand;
Cross-references
- Galatians 3:10 All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
- Job 16:18 O earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry for help never be laid to rest.
- Genesis 3:14 So the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and every beast of the field! On your belly will you go, and dust you will eat, all the days of your life.
- Deuteronomy 28:15 If, however, you do not obey the LORD your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:
- Genesis 4:14 Behold, this day You have driven me from the face of the earth, and from Your face I will be hidden; I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
- Deuteronomy 27:16 ‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- Deuteronomy 29:19 because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself, saying, ‘I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.’ This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.
- Job 31:38 if my land cries out against me and its furrows weep together,
- Isaiah 26:21 For behold, the LORD is coming out of His dwelling to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will reveal her bloodshed and will no longer conceal her slain.
- Revelation 12:16 But the earth helped the woman and opened its mouth to swallow up the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth.