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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Genesis 4:9

And the Lord said, &c. The condensed narrative does not say whether Cain tried to conceal the body of Abel, or had fled at once from the spot. Apparently Jehovah speaks to him suddenly, when at a distance from the scene of the murder. The process of interrogation may be compared with that in Genesis 3:9-13.

I know not: am I my brother's keeper? Cain's reply consists of (a) a statement which is a falsehood; and (b) a question which is defiance. "Keeper," perhaps with reference, in a mocking tone, to Abel's occupation as a keeper of sheep. "Am I the keeper's keeper?"

The first words of the first murderer renounce the obligations of brotherhood. The rejection of the family bond is the negation of love; it is the spirit of murder; cf. 1 John 3:12; 1 John 3:15.

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See also Genesis 4:9 in other biblical comments:

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    - Section IV - The Family of Adam - Cain and Abel 1. קין _qayı̂n_, Qain (Cain), “spear-shaft,” and קנה _qānah_, “set up, establish, gain, buy,” contain the biliteral root קן _qan_, “set up, erect, g...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 4 After the Fall and the Two Seeds _ 1. Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1)_ 2. Their offerings (Genesis 4:3) 3. The divine remonstrance (Genesis 4:6) 4. Abel slain by his brother ...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    The Story of Cain and Abel. This belongs to the J cycle of stories, but apparently not to the same stratum as Genesis 4:3, for it is assumed that the earth has a population from which Cain fears venge...

  • B. W. Johnson's Bible Commentary

    WHERE IS ABEL, THY BROTHER? The context seems to imply that he had concealed his brother's body in the hope that his crime would be undiscovered. He had not yet learned that there are no concealments...

  • Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae

    DISCOURSE: 9 THE DEATH OF ABEL Genesis 4:8. 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. And the Lo...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    I KNOW NOT: AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER?— There is no wonder, that he, who from such vile motives could murder his brother, _because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous,_ 1 John 3:12 sho...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    PART SEVENTEEN THE BEGINNING OF TRUE RELIGION (Genesis 4:1-15) 1. _Preliminary Definitions_ It is doubtful that there is a more ambiguous word in our language today than the word religion. It has li...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    _AND THE LORD SAID UNTO CAIN, WHERE IS ABEL THY BROTHER? AND HE SAID, I KNOW NOT: AM I MY BROTHER'S KEEPER?_ Where is Abel thy brother? When Cain saw the fatal result of his attack on his brother, he...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    CAIN AND ABEL. THE DESCENDANTS OF CAIN The narrative, which forms part of the Primitive document, impressively shows how sin, having once appeared, became hereditary in the human race, and speedily de...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    Cain sounds a much lower depth of depravity than his parents. Besides the guilt of murder, there is the impudent denial that he has harmed Abel, and the repudiation of responsibility for his safety....

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    ‘Where is Abel your brother?’ God knew what Cain had done. He knew that Abel was dead. But God wanted Cain to speak to him about it....

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    GOD’S ANCIENT PEOPLE GENESIS _ALUN OWEN_ CHAPTER 4 CAIN KILLS ABEL V1 Adam had sex with his wife Eve and she became *pregnant. Her son Cain was born. She said, ‘I have gained a man by the *Lord’...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    AND THE LORD SAID UNTO CAIN, WHERE IS ABEL THY BROTHER? — It is the beauty of these early narratives that the dealings of the Deity with mankind are all clothed in an anthropomorphic form, for the rea...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    וַ יֹּ֤אמֶר יְהוָה֙ אֶל ־קַ֔יִן אֵ֖י הֶ֣בֶל

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CAIN AND ABEL Genesis 4:1 IT is not the purpose of this narrator to write the history of the world. It is not his purpose to write even the history of mankind. His object is to write the history of r...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    CAIN'S CAREER Genesis 4:9 God's first question to the soul is, “Adam, where art thou?” The next, “Where is thy brother?” We _are_ our brother's keepers. All related to us, within our reach, or needin...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    The degeneration of the first man and woman was transmitted, the firstborn being manifestly an inheritor of the fallen nature of his parents. His mother named him Cain, intimating a hope that the seed...

  • Gary Hampton Commentaries

    HE YET SPEAKS! Abel is dead, but he still speaks (Hebrews 11:4). His blood calls for vengeance, thus speaking (Hebrews 12:24; Genesis 4:10). However, it seems he speaks more clearly through his exampl...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    And the LORD said unto Cain, Where [is] Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: (h) [Am] I my brother's keeper? (h) This is the nature of the reprobate when they are rebuke for their hypocrisy, ev...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. Hebrews 12:24. In the original, it is, thy Brother's bloods; as if, not only the death of Abel was co...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    There is one characteristic of divine revelation to which attention may be profitably called as a starting point. We have to do with facts. The Bible alone is a revelation of facts, and, we can add (n...

  • James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary

    _THE UNBROTHERLY BROTHER_ ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ Genesis 4:9 Whether the story of Cain and Abel be literal history or profound allegory, it conveys deep and abundant lessons. In the fact that,...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    9._Where is Abel ? _They who suppose that the father made this inquiry of Cain respecting his son Abel, enervate the whole force of the instruction which Moses here intended to deliver; namely, that G...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    But grace could work. The grace of a God above the evil of man, and Abel approaches Him by faith. Hereon follows the separation of the families of God and of the enemy, of the world and of faith. Abel...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    AND THE LORD SAID UNTO CAIN, WHERE IS ABEL THY BROTHER?.... Perhaps this was said to him the next time he came to offer, he not being with him: this question is put, not as being ignorant where he was...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    And the LORD said unto Cain, Where [is] Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: [Am] I my brother's keeper? Ver. 9. I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?] As if he had bid God, Go look. Let us not...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Where is Abel thy brother?_ Not that God was ignorant where he was, but he asks him that he might convince him of his crime, and bring him to a confession of it; for those that would be justified bef...

  • KJV Original Language Details

    1 The birth, trade, and religion of Cain and Abel. 8 The murder of Abel. 9 The curse of Cain. 17 Enoch the first citie. 19 Lamech and his two wiues. 25 The birth of Seth, 26 and Enos. 1 AND Ada...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    GOD'S JUDGMENT UPON CAIN...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel, thy brother? The arraignment of God in this case is like that against Adam and Eve after their transgression. The Lord confronts the murderer with a direct...

  • Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures

    SECOND SECTION _Cain and Abel. The Cainites. The ungodly Worldliness of the First Civilization._ GENESIS 4:1-26 1And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived, and bare Cain [the gotten, or possessi...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    CAIN AND ABEL Adam and Eve, having acquired a sinful nature, could only communicate the same nature to their children. Their firstborn was named Cain, which means "smith" or "fabricator," one who plan...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    8-15 Malice in the heart ends in murder by the hands. Cain slew Abel, his own brother, his own mother's son, whom he ought to have loved; his younger brother, whom he ought to have protected; a good...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    WHERE IS ABEL? Not that God was ignorant where he was, but partly to convince him of his sin, and to lead him to repentance, and partly to instruct judges to inquire into causes, and hear the accused...

  • Notes on the Pentateuch by Charles Henry Mackintosh

    & Genesis 5:1-32 As each section of the Book of Genesis opens before us, we are furnished with fresh evidence of the fact that we are travelling over, what a recent writer has well termed, "the seed-...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Genesis 4:9 LORD H3068 said H559 (H8799) Cain H7014 Where H335 Abel H1893 brother H251 said H559 ...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    ‘And Yahweh said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother's shepherd (guardian).” ' The question parallels the ‘where are you?' of Genesis 3:9. Again God is...

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    THE STORY OF CAIN AND ABEL (GENESIS 4:1 TO GENESIS 5:1 A). Genesis 4:1. The Sin of Cain TABLET III It is quite clear that this section once existed separately from Genesis 2-3. The immediate and last...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Genesis 4:8 Sin finds in the very constitution of the human mind the enginery of its own retribution. I. The very consciousness of sin is destructive of a sinner's peace. II. Sin tends to develop s...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Genesis 4:9 The feeling of our sonship to God in Christ is a topic which requires to be constantly dwelt upon, because our conventional acceptance of such a relationship is apt to be compatible with...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Genesis 4 I. From the story of Cain we gather the following thoughts: I. Eve's disappointment at the birth of Cain should be a warning to all mothers. Over-estimate of children may be traced somet...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: First sons of Adam, Cain and Abel. Murder of Abel. First civilization. Birth of Seth. CHARACTERS: Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Seth. CONCLUSION: Attainment can never take the place of Atonement....

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Genesis 4:1. _I have gotten._ קניתי _kaniti,_ from the root _kana,_ he possessed. The LXX have betrayed their ignorance of the Eternal Word, or Wisdom, by frequently rendering this word _created._ God...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Am I my brother’s keeper?_ EXAGGERATED INDIVIDUALISM The feeling of our sonship to God in Christ is a topic which requires to be constantly dwelt upon, because our conventional acceptance of such a...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground_ THE STORY OF CAIN AND ABEL I. RELIGION ACTUATED MEN IN THE VERY EARLIEST TIMES. II. THE MERE NATURAL RELIGION IS ESSENTIALLY DEFECT...

  • The children's great texts of the Bible by James Hastings

    MY BROTHER'S KEEPER Am I my brother's keeper? Genesis 4:9. This sounds as if it were going to be a boys' sermon, but it is a sermon just as much for girls as for boys, because all the people in the...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    GENESIS—NOTE ON GENESIS 4:9 AM I MY BROTHER’S KEEPER? Cain denies any knowledge about his brother and shows no sign of remorse. ⇐...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Genesis 4:9_ THE BITTER CURSE WHICH SIN BRINGS UPON AN INDIVIDUAL LIFE We have been thoroughly educated in the nature and effects of sin by the sacred narrative, n...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION GENESIS 4:1 Exiled from Eden, o'er, canopied by grace, animated by hope, assured of the Divine forgiveness, and filled with a sweet peace, the first pair enter on their life experience of...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Lets turn to Genesis Chapter four. Adam and Eve have been expelled from the Garden of Eden because of their disobedience to God. And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Where is. Genesis 3:9 Psalms 9:12 I know. Genesis 37:32 Job 22:13 Job 22:14...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

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  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    CAIN AND ABEL Genesis 4:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS It falls to our lot to connect the links between our last study and today's. 1. WE HAVE ADAM NAMING HIS WIFE, "EVE." Here is the Scripture: "And Adam ca...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? — God knew him to be guilty; yet he asks him, that he might draw from him a confession of his crime; for those who would be justified before God...

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