The eldest son of Adam and Eve, born after they were banished from the Garden of Eden. He was a tiller of the soil (Gen 4:2).
Cain and his brother Abel brought offerings to God; Cain of the first-fruits and Abel, a shepherd, of the firstlings of his flock (Gen 4:3-4). Without giving any reason, God accepted only the offering of Abel. Angered at this rejection, Cain killed his brother (Gen 4:8), for which he was subjected to a double curse: the ground would no longer yield to him its wealth (Gen 4:12), and he was condemned to be a "fugitive and a vagabond" on the earth for the rest of his life (Gen 4:12). The mark which God put on him (Gen 4:15) should not be understood as a punishment, but rather as a sign of protection.
Cain settled in the land of Nod (Gen 4:16), and married a woman who bore him a son named Enoch; Cain gave the same name to the city he built (Gen 4:17).
In the NT Cain is seen as the opponent of his righteous brother Abel, who brought a more excellent sacrifice (Heb 11:4); a symbol for an evil way of living (Jude v. 11) whose works were wicked (I John 3:12). As Abel was seen as a kind of prefiguration of Christ, some Church Fathers drew an analogy from the story of Cain and Abel, seeing them respectively as the Synagogue and the Church.
Concordance
Gen 4:1-3, 5-6,8-9, 13, 15-17,24-25. Heb 11:4. I John 3:12. Jude v.11
