Genesis 4 (MSG)

¹Adam slept with Eve his wife. She conceived and had Cain. She said, "I've gotten a man, with God's help!"

²Then she had another baby, Abel. Abel was a herdsman and Cain a farmer.

³Time passed. Cain brought an offering to God from the produce of his farm.

⁴Abel also brought an offering, but from the firstborn animals of his herd, choice cuts of meat. God liked Abel and his offering,

⁵but Cain and his offering didn't get his approval. Cain lost his temper and went into a sulk.

⁶God spoke to Cain: "Why this tantrum? Why the sulking?

⁷If you do well, won't you be accepted? And if you don't do well, sin is lying in wait for you, ready to pounce; it's out to get you, you've got to master it."

⁸Cain had words with his brother. They were out in the field; Cain came at Abel his brother and killed him.

⁹God said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "How should I know? Am I his babysitter?"

¹⁰God said, "What have you done! The voice of your brother's blood is calling to me from the ground.

¹¹From now on you'll get nothing but curses from this ground; you'll be driven from this ground that has opened its arms to receive the blood of your murdered brother.

¹²You'll farm this ground, but it will no longer give you its best. You'll be a homeless wanderer on Earth."

¹³Cain said to God, "My punishment is too much. I can't take it!

¹⁴You've thrown me off the land and I can never again face you. I'm a homeless wanderer on Earth and whoever finds me will kill me."

¹⁵God told him, "No. Anyone who kills Cain will pay for it seven times over." God put a mark on Cain to protect him so that no one who met him would kill him.

¹⁶Cain left the presence of God and lived in No-Man's-Land, east of Eden.

¹⁷Cain slept with his wife. She conceived and had Enoch. He then built a city and named it after his son, Enoch.

¹⁸Enoch had Irad, Irad had Mehujael, Mehujael had Methushael, Methushael had Lamech.

¹⁹Lamech married two wives, Adah and Zillah.

²⁰Adah gave birth to Jabal, the ancestor of all who live in tents and herd cattle.

²¹His brother's name was Jubal, the ancestor of all who play the lyre and flute.

²²Zillah gave birth to Tubal-Cain, who worked at the forge making bronze and iron tools. Tubal-Cain's sister was Naamah.

²³Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, listen to me; you wives of Lamech, hear me out: I killed a man for wounding me, a young man who attacked me.

²⁴If Cain is avenged seven times, for Lamech it's seventy-seven!

²⁵Adam slept with his wife again. She had a son whom she named Seth. She said, "God has given me another child in place of Abel whom Cain killed."

²⁶And then Seth had a son whom he named Enosh. That's when men and women began praying and worshiping in the name of God.