Cain, the firstborn, was a farmer, and his brother Abel was a shepherd. The brothers made sacrifices, each from his own fields, to God. God had regard for Abel's offering, but had no regard for Cain's. Cain killed Abel and God cursed Cain, sentencing him to a life of transience. Cain then dwelt in the land of Nod (נוֹד, 'wandering'), where he built a city and fathered the line of descendants beginning with Enoch.
All of humanity has participated in the violence and conflict of brother against brother. We have all inwardly had violent thoughts of murder of our Brother
Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, "I have produced a man with the help of the Lord."[i] Next she bore his brother Abel.[ii] Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. The Lord said to Cain,"Why are you angry,and why has your countenance fallen?
If you do well,
will you not be accepted?
And if you do not do well,
sin is lurking at the door;
its desire is for you,
but you must master it."
Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let us go out to the field."[iii] And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him.
Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?"[iv] And the Lord said, "What have you done? Listen; your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground! And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.[v] When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth." Cain said to the Lord, "My punishment is greater than I can bear! Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me." Then the Lord said to him, "Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance." And the Lord put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him.
Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord, and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden. Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch; and he built a city, and named it Enoch after his son Enoch.
— Book of Genesis, 4:1–18
A prominent Mesopotamian parallel to Cain and Abel is Enlil Chooses the Farmer-God[13] in which the shepherd-god Emesh and the farmer-god Enten bring their dispute over which of them is better to the chief god Enlil[14] who rules in favor of Enten (the farmer).
Cain
Now Adam had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain...
— Genesis 4:1
Curse of Cain
The narrative of the curse of Cain is found in the text of Genesis 4:11–16. The curse was the result of Cain murdering his brother, Abel, and lying about the murder to God.[2] When Cain spilled his brother's blood, the earth became cursed as soon as the blood hit the ground. In a sense, the earth was left "drinking Abel's blood".[3] Genesis 4:12 gives a two-part sentencing for Cain's curse. The first concerns the earth that was cursed by Abel's blood.[4] Should Cain attempt to farm the land, the earth would not yield produce for him. This may imply why he went on to build cities,[5] namely the City of Enoch.
The second part of the curse marks Cain as a fugitive (Hebrew: נע, romanized: nā‘) and a wanderer (Hebrew: נד, romanized: nāḏ). The combination making up this Hebrew phrase נע ונד, "fugitive and wanderer," is unique in the Hebrew Bible. Modern interpretations of the Hebrew verse 12 suggest that Cain went on to live a nomadic lifestyle and that he was also excluded from the family unit.[6] In the Septuagint, the emphasis on Cain's curse is dramatically increased by the combination of the Greek participles στένων καὶ τρέμων (stenōn kai tremōn, "groaning and shaking upon the earth").[7] Syriac Christianity[8] interprets the Greek version to mean that Cain experienced a real physical affliction[9] that would enable others to know who he was when they saw him. Philo interprets the Greek verse 12 as an allegory for Cain's fear of being soul-less. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the Targums translate the same verse to mean that Cain feared being "an exile and an unstable man"
The mark of Cain is God's promise to offer Cain divine protection from premature death with the stated purpose of preventing anyone from killing him. It is not known what the mark was, but it is assumed that the mark was visible.[11] Some have speculated that the mark was a Hebrew or Sumerian letter placed on either the face or the arm.[12] The Septuagint translates the mark as a "sign". Thus, it is speculated that the mark served as a sign to others not to commit the same offense.
Abel
A treatise on Christian Hermeticism, Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism, describes the biblical account of Cain and Abel as a myth, in that it expresses, in a form narrated for a particular case, an "eternal" idea. It argues that brothers can become mortal enemies through the very fact that they worship the same God in the same way. According to the author, the source of religious wars is revealed. It is not the difference in dogma or ritual which is the cause, but the "pretention to equality" or "the negation of hierarchy."