Outside Eden, Adam and Eve have sons. Cain works the ground and Abel keeps flocks. Both bring offerings to God, but the narrative says that God regards Abel and his offering while Cain and his offering are not regarded in the same way. Cain becomes angry, and his expression falls.

God warns Cain that he faces a choice. Sin is pictured as something waiting at the door, desiring mastery, while Cain is called to rule over it. The warning makes the murder that follows more deliberate: Cain speaks with Abel, takes him into the field, and kills his brother.

When God asks where Abel is, Cain responds by denying responsibility. God confronts him with Abel’s blood crying from the ground. The ground Cain cultivated will no longer yield to him as before, and he will become a restless wanderer.

Cain fears that others will kill him. God places a protective sign on him and warns against vengeance. Cain then leaves the presence of the LORD and settles in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

The story shows violence entering the first family after the expulsion from Eden. Jealousy becomes murder, and murder produces further exile. Yet even as Cain is judged, the narrative restrains unlimited retaliation, a tension between justice and mercy that continues to appear throughout Scripture.