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Cain Murders Abel

4Now the man knew his wife Eve, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, ‘I have produced^* a man with the help of the Lord.’ ²Next she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a tiller of the ground. ³In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, ⁴and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, ⁵but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. ⁶The Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? ⁷If 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.’

8 Cain said to his brother Abel, ‘Let us go out to the field.’^* And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. ⁹Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ He said, ‘I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?’ ¹⁰And the Lord said, ‘What have you done? Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground! ¹¹And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. ¹²When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.’ ¹³Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear! ¹⁴Today 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.’ ¹⁵Then 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.

25 Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, for she said, ‘God has appointed^* for me another child instead of Abel, because Cain killed him.’

Psalm 50

The Acceptable Sacrifice

A Psalm of Asaph.
¹ The mighty one, God the Lord,
   speaks and summons the earth
   from the rising of the sun to its setting.
⁸ Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
   your burnt-offerings are continually before me.
¹⁶ But to the wicked God says:
   ‘What right have you to recite my statutes,
   or take my covenant on your lips?
¹⁷ For you hate discipline,
   and you cast my words behind you.
²⁰ You sit and speak against your kin;
   you slander your own mother’s child.
²¹ These things you have done and I have been silent;
   you thought that I was one just like yourself.
But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you.

The Demand for a Sign

11 The Pharisees came and began to argue with him, asking him for a sign from heaven, to test him. ¹²And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, ‘Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.’ ¹³And he left them, and getting into the boat again, he went across to the other side.