Yahweh said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground. Now you are cursed because of the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
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Yahweh said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground. Now you are cursed because of the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. From now on, when you till the ground, it won’t yield its strength to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth.”
Parallel Translations
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Yahweh said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground.
Now you are cursed because of the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
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And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.
And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand;
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And He said: 'What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto Me from the ground.
And now cursed art thou from the ground, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand.
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Cross-references (28)
- Hebrews 12:24 (v10) to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel.
- Psalms 72:14 (v10) He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence. Their blood will be precious in his sight.
- Hebrews 11:4 (v10) By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he had testimony given to him that he was righteous, God…
- Isaiah 5:7 (v10) For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but,…
- James 5:4 (v10) Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have…
Show all 27 cross-references
- Psalms 9:12 (v10) For he who avenges blood remembers them. He doesn’t forget the cry of the afflicted.
- Numbers 35:33 (v10) “ ‘So you shall not pollute the land where you live; for blood pollutes the land. No atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that…
- Revelation 6:9-10 (v10) When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed for the Word of God, and for the testimony…
- Job 16:18 (vv10–11) “Earth, don’t cover my blood. Let my cry have no place to rest.
- Job 31:38-39 (v10) If my land cries out against me, and its furrows weep together; if I have eaten its fruits without money, or have caused its owners to lose…
- Galatians 3:10 (v11) For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things…
- Genesis 3:14 (v11) Yahweh God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed above all livestock, and above every animal of the field. You…
- Genesis 9:5 (v10) I will surely require accounting for your life’s blood. At the hand of every animal I will require it. At the hand of man, even at the hand…
- Deuteronomy 28:15-20 (v11) But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which…
- Genesis 4:14 (v11) Behold, you have driven me out today from the surface of the ground. I will be hidden from your face, and I will be a fugitive and a…
- Deuteronomy 27:16-26 (v11) ‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or his mother.’ All the people shall say, ‘Amen.’ ‘Cursed is he who removes his neighbor’s…
- Deuteronomy 29:19-21 (v11) and it happen, when he hears the words of this curse, that he bless himself in his heart, saying, “I shall have peace, though I walk in the…
- Job 31:38-40 (v11) If my land cries out against me, and its furrows weep together; if I have eaten its fruits without money, or have caused its owners to lose…
- Isaiah 26:21 (v11) For, behold, Yahweh comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also will disclose her…
- Revelation 12:16 (v11) The earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon spewed out of his mouth.
- Exodus 3:7 (v10) Yahweh said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I…
- Psalms 50:21 (v10) You have done these things, and I kept silent. You thought that I was just like you. I will rebuke you, and accuse you in front of your…
- Genesis 3:13 (v10) Yahweh God said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
- Genesis 18:20 (v10) Yahweh said, “Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous,
- Joshua 7:19 (v10) Joshua said to Achan, “My son, please give glory to Yahweh, the God of Israel, and make confession to him. Tell me now what you have done!…
- 2 Kings 9:26 (v10) ‘Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons,’ says Yahweh; ‘and I will repay you in this plot of ground,’…
- Job 24:12 (v10) From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, yet God doesn’t regard the folly.
27 distinct cross-references across this passage (28 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv10–11 10. What hast thou done ? The voice of…
10. What hast thou done ? The voice of thy brother’s blood Moses shows that Cain gained nothing by his tergiversation. God first inquired where his brother was; he now more closely urges him, in order to extort an unwilling confession of his guilt; for in no racks or tortures of any kind is there so much force to constrain evildoers, as there was efficacy in the thunder of the Divine voice to cast down Cain in confusion to the ground. For God no longer asks whether he had done it; but, pronouncing in a single word that he was the doer of it, he aggravates the atrocity of the crime. We learn, then, in the person of one man, what an unhappy issue of their cause awaits those, who desire to extricate themselves by contending against God. For He, the Searcher of hearts, has no need of a long, circuitous course of investigation; but, with one word, so fulminates against those whom he accuses, as to be sufficient, and more than sufficient, for their condemnation. Advocates place the first kind of defense in the denial of the fact; where the fact cannot be denied, they have recourse to the qualifying circumstances of the case. Cain is driven from both these defenses; for God both pronounces him guilty of the slaughter, and, at the same time, declares the heinousness of the crime. And we are warned by his example, that pretexts and subterfuges are heaped together in vain, when sinners are cited to the tribunal of God.
The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth. God first shows that he is cognizant of the deeds of men, though no one should complain of or accuse them; secondly that he holds the life of man too dear, to allow innocent blood to be shed with impunity; thirdly, that he cares for the pious not only while they live, but even after death. However earthly judges may sleep, unless an accuser appeals to them; yet even when he who is injured is silent the injuries themselves are alone sufficient to arouse God to inflict punishment. This is a wonderfully sweet consolation to good men, who are unjustly harassed, when they hear that their own sufferings, which they silently endure, go into the presence of God of their own accord, to demand vengeance. Abel was speechless when his throat was being cut, or in whatever other manner he was losing his life; but after death the voice of his blood was more vehement than any eloquence of the orator. Thus oppression and silence do not hinder God from judging, or the cause which the world supposes to be buried. This consolation affords us most abundant reason for patience when we learn that we shall lose nothing of our right, if we bear injuries with moderation and equanimity; and that God will be so much the more ready to vindicate us, the more modestly we submit ourselves to endure all things; because the placid silence of the soul raises effectual cries, which fill heaven and earth. Nor does this doctrine apply merely to the state of the present life, to teach us that among the innumerable dangers by which we are surrounded, we shall be safe under the guardianship of God; but it elevates us by the hope of a better life; because we must conclude that those for whom God cares shall survive after death. And, on the other hand, this consideration should strike terror into the wicked and violent, that God declares, that he undertakes the causes deserted by human patronage, not in consequence of any foreign impulse, but from his own nature; and that he will be the sure avenger of crimes, although the injured make no complaint. Murderers indeed often exult, as if they had evaded punishment; but at length God will show that innocent blood has not been mute, and that he has not said in vain, ‘the death of the saints is precious in his eyes,’ (Psalm 115:17.) Therefore, as this doctrine brings relief to the faithful, lest they should be too anxious concerning their life, over which they learn that God continually watches; so does it vehemently thunder against the ungodly who do not scruple wickedly to injure and to destroy those whom God has undertaken to preserve.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv10–11 God revengeth the wrongs of his Saints, though none…
God revengeth the wrongs of his Saints, though none complain: for the iniquity itself crieth for vengeance.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv10–11 Gen 4:10 And he said, What hast thou done?…
Gen 4:10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.
Ver. 10. What hast thou done?] Here God appeals to the murderer’s conscience, which is instead of a thousand witnesses. As oft as we feel the secret smitings of our own hearts for sin, think we hear him that is greater than our hearts, saying to us as here, What havae you done? And that there is no good to be done by denying or dawbing, for he knows all things, {1Jn 3:20} and requires that we should see our sins to confession, or we shall see them to our confusion.
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The voice of thy brother’s blood.] The blood of one Abel had so many tongues as drops, and every drop a voice to cry for vengeance. "Give them blood to drink, for they are worthy." {Rev 16:6} Charles IX. of France, author of that bloody massacre of Paris, died of exceeding bleeding. Richard III. of this kingdom, and Queen Mary, had the shortest reigns of any since the Conquest; according to that, "Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days," {Psa 55:23} anno 1586. {a} Walsh, Bishop of Ossery, in Ireland, a man of honest life, with his two servants, were stabbed to death by one Dulland, an Irish old soldier, while he gravely admonished him of his foul adulteries; and the wicked murderer escaped away, who had now committed forty-five murders with his own hand. At length, revenge pursuing him, he was by another bloody fellow, Donald Spaniah, shortly after slain himself, and his head presented to the Lord Deputy of Ireland. {b}
{a} Mr Camden’s Elisab., p. 165.
{b} Mr Camden’s Elisab., p. 241.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv10–11 I hear thy words, but what say thy actions?…
I hear thy words, but what say thy actions? What a hideous crime hast thou committed! In vain dost thou endeavour to hide it or deny it. In the Hebrew it is bloods, either to aggravate the crime, or to show the plenty of the blood split, or to charge him with the murder of all those that might naturally have come out of Abel’s loins; which was a far greater crime in the nonage of the world, when the world greatly wanted people.
From the ground, upon which it was spilt by thy bloody hands.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv10–11 And now art thou cursed from the earth,.... From…
And now art thou cursed from the earth,.... From receiving benefit by it, and enjoying the fruits of it as before, and from having a settled dwelling in it, as is afterwards explained:
which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand; the blood of his brother, which was shed by his own hand, was received and sucked into the earth, where it was spilt, through the pores of it, and drank up and covered, so as not to be seen; in which it was as it were more humane to Abel, and as it were more ashamed of the crime, and shuddered more, and expressed more horror at it, than Cain.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv10–11 And he said, What hast thou done? - Thou…
And he said, What hast thou done? - Thou thinkest to conceal it, but the evidence against thee is clear and uncontestable, the voice of thy brother's blood crieth - He speaks as if the blood itself were both witness and prosecutor, because God's own knowledge testified against him, and God's own justice demanded satisfaction. The blood is said to cry from the ground, the earth, which is said, ver. 11, to open her mouth to receive his brother's blood from his hand. The earth did as it were blush to see her own face stained with such blood; and therefore opened her mouth to hide that which she could not hinder.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v10 Verse 10. The voice of thy brother's blood] It…
Verse 10. The voice of thy brother's blood] It is probable that Cain, having killed his brother, dug a hole and burled him in the earth, hoping thereby to prevent the murder from being known; and that this is what is designed in the words, Thy brother's blood crieth unto me FROM THE GROUND-which hath opened her mouth to receive it from thy hand. Some think that by the voice of thy brother's blood the cries of Abel's widow and children are to be understood, as it is very probable that he was father of a family; indeed his occupation and sacrifices seem to render this probable, and probability is all we can expect on such a subject. God represents these as calling aloud for the punishment of the murderer; and it is evident that Cain expected to fall by the hands of some person who, from his consanguinity, had the right of the avenger of blood; for now that the murder is found out, he expects to suffer death for it. See Ge 4:14.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv10–11 Gen 4:10. What hast thou done? — Thou thinkest…
Gen 4:10. What hast thou done? — Thou thinkest to conceal it; but the evidence against thee is clear and incontestable: the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth from the ground — He speaks as if the blood itself were both witness and prosecutor, because God’s own knowledge testified against him, and God’s own justice demanded satisfaction.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv10–11 the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me--Cain,…
the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me--Cain, to lull suspicion, had probably been engaging in the solemnities of religion when he was challenged directly from the Shekinah itself.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv10–11 10. What hast thou done — In this verse…
10. What hast thou done — In this verse it is well to emphasize and compare together the words thou, thy brother, me. The guilt of the bloody deed rests upon Cain’s dark soul; the brother’s blood cries to heaven; God hears, and will not ignore the cry. “The pious Abel had pleaded with his fierce brother in vain, but the great God hears the cry of injured innocence. He is the God of those whom men forget and scorn. Every groan and cry that tyranny and persecution crush from broken hearts are gathered up in the all-embracing heaven, and poured into that ever-listening ear.” — Newhall. The Hebrew words for blood and crieth are in the plural, as if to suggest that all the drops or streams of blood thus violently shed took on so many imploring tongues. “The blood, as the living flow of the life, and the phenomenal basis of the soul, has a voice which is as the living echo of the blood-clad soul itself. It is the symbol of the soul crying for its right to live.” — Lange.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv10–11 10. What hast thou done?] The same question as…
10. What hast thou done?] The same question as that put to Eve (Gen_3:13). This question has been put by the voice of conscience to every murderer since Cain; it had a special force in reference to the first man done to death by his brother.
the voice of thy brother’s blood] Probably it would be more accurate to translate, as Driver, “Hark! thy brother’s blood, &c.” The word “blood” in the Hebrew is plural, and the word “crieth” is in the plural agreeing with it. The Hebrew for “voice” (ḳôl) should similarly be rendered “Hark!,” instead of “noise,” in Isa_13:4, and instead of “the voice of,” in Isa_52:8; see Heb. Lexicon.
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The Hebrew idea was that blood shed, for which there was no avenger, cried to Jehovah for vengeance against the murderer. Jehovah has learned of Abel’s murder from the cry of his blood spilt upon the ground. Another Hebrew belief was that, if only the blood were covered with earth, it would be silent. Cf. Job_16:18, “Oh! earth, cover not thou my blood and let my cry have no resting-place”; Isa_26:21, “The earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain”; Eze_24:7. To this ancient supposition there is an allusion in Heb_12:14, “the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better than that of Abel.”
“In the picturesque legend of the Arabs, there rose from the blood (or bones) of the slain man the ‘death-owl,’ which shrieked, ‘Give me to drink,’ until it was appeased by the blood of vengeance.” (Gordon’s Early Traditions of Genesis, p. 203.)
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv10–11 (10) Thy brother’s blood crieth unto me.—The sight he…
(10) Thy brother’s blood crieth unto me.—The sight he has seen of death cleaves to him, and grows into a terror; and from above the voice of Jehovah tells him that the blood he has shed calls aloud for vengeance. Thus with the first shedding of human blood that ominous thought sprang up, divinely bestowed, that the earth will grant no peace to the wretch who has stained her fair face with the life stream of man. But “the blood of Jesus speaketh better things than that of Abel” (Heb_12:24). The voice of one cried for justice and retribution: the other for reconciliation and peace.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv10–11 Satisfied that the guilty fratricide is resolved to make…
Satisfied that the guilty fratricide is resolved to make no acknowledgment of his deed, the omniscient Judge proceeds to charge him with his sin. And hei.e. Jehovahsaid, What hast thou done? Thus intimating his perfect cognizance of the fact which his prisoner was attempting to deny. What a revelation it must have been to the inwardly trembling culprit of the impossibility of eluding the besetting God! (Psa_139:5) The voice of thy brother"s blood (literally, bloods, i.e. of this and all subsequent martyrs Chald. Par.) crieth unto me. A common Scriptural expression concerning murder and other crimes (Gen_18:20, 21 19:13; Exo_3:9; Heb_12:24; Jam_5:4) The blood crying is a symbol of the soul crying for its right to live (Lange). In this instance the cry was a demand for the punishment of the murderer; and that cry has reverberated through all lands and down through all ages, proclaiming vengeance against the shedder of innocent blood (cf. Gen_9:5) "Hence the prayer that the earth may net drink in the blood shed upon it, in order that it may not thereby become invisible and inaudible" (Knobel). Cf. (Job_16:18; Isa_26:21; Eze_24:7) also Eschylus, "Chaephorae," 310, 398 (quoted by T. Lewis in Lange) From the ground. Into which it had disappeared, but not, as the murderer hoped, to become for. gotten.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv10–11 The voice of thy brothers blood crieth
Gen_4:10
The voice of thy brothers blood crieth
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The first prayer on record
God taught Cain that all facts which take place here, are recorded too; aye, that they need no kind of attendant watcher, who supervising their proceedings shall note them in a book (though for ought we know to the contrary, this is true as well); but that they each have that peculiar quality attached by God to themselves that not a deed of any kind can happen but it becomes a witness in itself and bears record of its own occurrence.
The general principles of revelation intimate this idea, and the promise of God that He will bring every work and every secret thing into judgment, whether good or bad, confirms it. And such, I conceive, was the truth conveyed to this fratricide when he heard the appalling words, Thy brothers blood crieth unto Me from the ground. Perhaps he had carefully concealed all beneath the sod, and with the greatest attention removed every visible trace to the superficial examiner of any record of his foul proceeding, but he now learnt that things which he thought dumb could raise their voice in the ear of Omnipotence, and that the blood of a brother which he had shed, could rise vocal in the words of prayer. Yes, depend upon it, that each act of your moral life leaves enough of a trace behind it, to give a proof that it has been performed. Nature, ever ready as the handmaid of religion, may instruct us here--let science not precede, but follow after faith: let it be used as I feel it ought to be; not to prove Scripture doctrines, but to illustrate and confirm them, and you will then find what I have so often asserted, that the best commentary on the Word of God will be found in His works! I have said then that, in the moral world, each moral deed leaves enough of evidence behind it in its effects, to bear witness of the fact here after; that each act of mans history leaves a record behind it in its effects upon his soul who does it, upon other individuals and upon society, by which it may be traced out, and traced up to its originator. Now look to nature. The astronomer will demonstrate to you, not by a worn pathway in the heavens, but yet with as much certainty as though this existed, the exact line in which divers planets have moved through many thousands of years. The geologist digs into the crust of the earth, and proves beyond all question the former existence of animals long since extinct, and incapable of living in the earth in its present condition, and can show also what food, and what state of earth and atmosphere they enjoyed. Nay, he will descend with you into the quarry, and there point out, to your amazement proofs as clear as you can desire them, which shall satisfy you of the showers of rain which in past ages watered the fair garden of the earth with refreshing distillation. And when accompanying you into the coal shaft, he shall almost bewilder you with yet more mysterious revelations, as he shall point out the mighty forest of gigantic plants, once waving in grandeur and elegance upon the boundless prairie, and which have engraved their beauteous forms upon the solid carbonaceous block; you will then acknowledge (but perhaps only because you cannot longer deny it), that such a principle exists at least in nature that events record themselves. Or, once more, and to speak of things known to most of you. We are told that the Red Indian traces, without doubt or difficulty, the devious path by which the puny game he is pursuing has sought to escape him, and that accustomed to the rapid investigation of the tiniest footprint, he can do so with an ease and accuracy which astounds the traveller. Or, see again the power of chemical analysis! Blend together as many gases or as many fluids as you choose, and lo, obedient to the laws of Him who first created them, they call be severed each again into their respective characteristics, and each component particle shall stand forth in its own pristine original condition. Here assuredly, brethren, we have enough to illustrate, and (I think) to confirm our position. Shall the astronomer tell me the path in which yon planet walked in past centuries, and think you then that it is a difficult task for Him who made that planet to discover the actions of His creatures there? Shall the geologist unfold, from the dark recesses of the deep, the deeds and proceedings of former ages and of former existences, and even show the mark of the falling rain drop; and shall I hope to conceal my sins, either outwardly in the earth or inwardly in my heart, when God shall call them forth? Shall the habit of rapidly tracing out the smallest footstep so strengthen the unlettered Indian that he does so free from trouble, and shall we deem it inconceivable that the moral footprints of human life are trackless through any one step of our probationary way? Shall the hunter follow with unerring precision until he overtakes the victim whom he has resolved to make his prey; and can I look to escape the avenger of Gods holiness by avoiding him, when, all the while, every step I take in my moral course leaves a record (whether I will it or no), plain and unerring, of the course of life I am leading? Shall the chemical investigator untangle the compounds which ingenuity has mixed, and, setting all free again, distinctly point out the proportions which each component part had in the whole conglomerate, and shall I, by a mingling of bad actions with outwardly good ones, or by an amalgamation of my sins with those of other men, hope thus to prove myself free from all because I may be innocent of some? Ah, no! All nature too shuts me up in difficulty! Each loop hole is barred up and there is no escape I Sinner, sinner, I must confess myself; and, oh, whither shall I flee? The heights of heaven, the depths of hell, the mysteries and mazes of darkness, the rapidity of flight, each, all, fail me together I Fool, madman that I was, shall the sceptic cry out when (too late) he discovers his error presently: for he must learn then that every action of his life has recorded itself even when it was performed; a truth, a principle which nature confirms and illustrates in every particular, and which God taught him when He said to Cain long ago, The voice of thy brothers blood crieth unto Me from the ground. (G. Venables, S. C. L.)
Sin coming back upon the sinner
Two brothers started to go West to seek their fortune. One had money, the other had not. When they got to the frontier, the one without money murdered the other, and taking his money fled to California. Doctors took the head of the murdered man and preserved it in alcohol. No ]proof of the murder could be found. No one was present when the deed was done. The brother was accused, but declared his innocence. No one was there but he and God. He was brought before jury and judge and declared his innocence. The dead face of his brother was brought into court. He gazed on it, he fainted and fell to the floor, and confessed his sin. There is a time when all these unconfessed sins will come in before us, tramp, tramp, tramp, till they all come back. (Dr. Talmage.)
Sin its own detective
One night in Edinburgh a person awoke to find that his house had been plundered. The alarm was raised, nor was it long ere the officers of justice found a clue. The thief, wounding his hand as he escaped by the window, had left a red witness behind him. The watchman flashed his lantern upon the spot. Drop by drop the blood stained the pavement. They tracked it on and on and ever on, till their silent guide conducted them along an open passage and up a flight of steps, stopping at the door of a house. They broke in and there they found the bleeding hand, the booty, and the pale criminal. And so unless they be forgiven, washed away in the blood of Jesus, shall your sins find you out. (T. Guthrie, D. D.)
The punishment of sin
We might illustrate the evil of sin by the following comparison: Suppose I were gems along a street and were to dash my hand through a large pane of glass, what harm would I receive? You would be punished for breaking the glass. Would that be all the harm I should receive? Your hand would be cut by the glass. Yes; and so it is with sin. If you break Gods laws, you shall be punished for breaking them; and your soul is hurt by the very act of breaking them. (J. Inglis.)
Everlasting punishment
If you cut a gash in a mans head you may heal it; but you can never rub out, nor wash out, nor cut out, the scar. It may be a witness against you in his corpse: still, it may be covered by the coffin, or hidden in the grave; but then it is not till decomposition shall take place that it shall entirely disappear. But if you smite a soul, the scar remains: no coffin or grave shall hide it; no revolution, not even the upturning of the physical universe, shall obliterate it; no fire, not even the eternal furnaces of hell, shall burn it out. (Dr. Thomson.)
Blood will out!
How strangely deeds of blood are disclosed! Two French merchants, relates Clarke, were travelling to a fair, and, while passing through a wood, one of them murdered the other, and robbed him of his money. After burying him to prevent discovery, he proceeded on his journey; but the murdered mans dog remained behind. His howling attracted passers-by, who were led to search the spot. The fair being ended, they watched the return of the merchants; and the murderer no sooner made his appearance than the dog sprung furiously upon him. Be sure your sin will find you out. How terribly was this exemplified in the case of Eugene Aram, whose very conscience at last unfolded the tale:--
He told how murderers walk the earth
Beneath the curse of Cain,
With crimson clouds before their eyes,
And flames about their brain.
The blood of Abel and the blood of Jesus
I. In the first place, JESUS BLOOD SPEAKS BETTER THINGS IN GENERAL. What did the blood of Abel say?
1. Was it not the blood of testimony? When Abel fell to the ground beneath his brothers club, he bore witness to spiritual religion. Our Lord Jesus Christ, being also a testifier and witness for the faith of God, spake better things than Abel because He had more to speak, and spake from more intimate acquaintance with God. He was a fuller witness of Divine truth than Abel could be, for He brought life and immortality to light, and told His people clearly of the Father. Our Lord Jesus Christ had been in the bosom of the Father, and knew the Divine secret; this secret He revealed to the sons of men in His ministry, and then He sealed it by His blood.
2. Moreover, the blood of Abel spake good things in that it was the proof of faithfulness. His blood as it fell to the ground spake this good thing;--it said, Great God, Abel is faithful to Thee. But the blood of Jesus Christ testifies to yet greater faithfulness still, for it was the sequel of a spotlessly perfect life, which no act of sin had ever defiled; whereas Abels death furnished, it is true, a life of faith, but not a life of perfection.
3. Moreover, we must never forget that all that Abels blood could say as it fell to the ground, was but the shadow of that more glorious substance of which Jesus death assures us.
4. It is well to add that our Lords person was infinitely more worthy and glorious than that of Abel, and consequently His death must yield to us a more golden-mouthed discourse than the death of a mere man like Abel.
II. Now we will enter the very heart of our text, while we remember that THE BLOOD OF JESUS SPEAKS BETTER THINGS TO GOD than the blood of Abel did. Now, what did Abels blood say to God? It said just this, O God, one of Thine own creatures, the product of Thy matchless skill, has been dashed in pieces, and barbarously destroyed. Yet the blood of Abel said more than this; it said, O God, the blood shed here was shed for Thee. It seemed to say, If it were not for love of Thee, this blood had not been shed! Do you hear, what a cry the blood of Abel must have had, and with what power it arose to heaven? But we are not left to conjecture as to the power of that cry, for we are told that God heard, and when He heard it He came to reckoning with Cain, and He said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brothers blood crieth to Me from the ground. Can you stand at Calvary now and view the flowing of the Saviours blood from hands, and feet, and side? What are your own reflections as to what that blood says to God? Think now at the cross foot. That blood crieth with a loud voice to God, and what doth it say? Does it not say this? O God, this time it is not merely a creature which bleeds, but, though the body that hangs upon the cross is the creature of Thy Holy Spirit, it is Thine own Son who now pours out His soul unto death. O God, it is Thine only-begotten One, dear to Thyself, essentially one with Thee, one in whom Thou art well pleased, whose obedience is perfect, whose love to Thee has been unwavering--it is He who dies. O God, wilt Thou despise the cries and the tears, the groans, the moans, the blood of Thine own Son? Most tender Father, in whose bosom Jesus lay from before the foundations of the earth, He dies, and wilt Thou not regard Him? Shall His blood fall to the ground in vain? Then, moreover, the voice would plead, It is not only Thy Son, but Thy perfectly innocent Son, in whom was no necessity for dying, because He had no original sin which would have brought corruption on Him, who had moreover no actual sin, who throughout life had done nothing worthy of death or of bonds. O God, it is Thine only-begotten, who, without a fault, is led as a lamb to the slaughter, and stands like a sheep before her shearers. Canst Thou see it, Thou God of all, canst Thou see the infinitely holy and just Son of Thy heart led here to die--canst Thou see it, and not feel the force of the blood as it cries to Thee? Yet over and above this the blood must have pleaded thus with God:--O God, the blood which is now being shed, thus honourable and glorious in itself, is being poured out with a motive which is Divinely gracious. He who dies on this cross dies for His enemies, groans for those who make Him groan, suffers for those who thrust the dart into His soul, and then mock at the agony which they themselves have caused. O God, it is a chain for God in heaven which binds the victim to the horns of the altar, a chain of everlasting love, of illimitable goodness. Now, dear friends, you and I could not see a man suffer out of pure benevolence without being moved by his sufferings, and shall God be unmoved? the perfectly holy and gracious God, shall He be indifferent where you and I are stirred to deep emotion? Abels blood had mighty prevalence to curse, but Jesus blood has prevalence to bless the sons of men.
III. Furthermore, JESUS BLOOD SPEAKS BETTER THINGS TO US IN OUR OWN HEARTS than the blood of Abel. Oh, it must have been a remembrance clinging like a viper around the murderer wherever he might be! He might well build a city, as we are told he did, in order to quench these fiery remembrances. Then would the thought come upon him, You slew him though he was your brother. The innocence of his victim, if Cain had any conscience, must have increased his uneasiness, for he would recollect how inoffensively he had kept those sheep of his, and had been like one among them, so lamblike, that shepherd man himself, a true sheep of Gods pasture. Yet, would Cain say, I slew him because I hated God, the God before whose bar I am soon to stand, the God who set this mark on me. Can you picture the man who had thus to be daily schooled and upbraided by a brothers blood? It needs a poets mind to teach him. Think how you would feel if you had killed your own brother, how the guilt would hang over you like a black cloud, and drop horror into your very soul. Now, brethren, there is more than equal force in the cry of the blood of Jesus, only it acts differently, and it speaketh better things. Let it be remembered, however, that it speaks those better things with the same force. Comforts arise from the blood of Jesus as powerful as the horrors which arose from the blood of Abel. Just in proportion as thought of murder would make Cain wretched, in the same proportion ought faith to make you happy as you think upon Jesus Christ slain; for the blood of Christ, as I said at the beginning of the sermon, cannot have a less powerful voice; it must have a more powerful voice than that of Abel, and it cries therefore more powerfully for you than the blood of Abel cried against his brother Cain.
IV. Two or three words to close with. JESUS BLOOD, EVEN IN MY TEXT, SPEAKS BETTER THINGS THAN THAT OF ABEL. It speaks the same things, but in a better sense. Did you notice the first text? God said unto Cain, What hast thou done? Now, that is what Christs blood says to you: What hast thou done? My dear hearer, dost thou not know that thy sins slew the Saviour? If we have been playing with sin, and fancied it to be a very little thing, a trifle to play with and laugh at, let us correct the mistake. Our Saviour hangs on the cross, and was nailed there by those sins of ours; shall we think little of them? What I want mainly to indicate is this. If you notice in the second text, this blood is called the blood of sprinkling. Whether Abels blood sprinkled Cain or not I cannot say, but, if it did, it must have added to his horror to have had the blood actually upon him. But this adds to the joy in our case, for the blood of Jesus is of little value to us until it is sprinkled upon us. Faith dips the hyssop in the atoning blood and sprinkles it upon the soul, and the soul is clean. There is another matter in the text with which I conclude. The apostle says, We are come to the blood of sprinkling. He mentions that among other things to which we are come. Now, from the blood of Abel every reasonable man would flee away, He that has murdered his fellow desires to put a wide distance between himself and the accusing corpse. But we come to the blood of Jesus. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Am I clear of his blood?
I. First, we are to MAKE A SEARCHING INQUIRY FOR THE CRIMINALS. There are many persons whose brothers blood cries to God from the ground.
1. There is the seducer; he spake with honeyed words, and talked of love, but the poison of asps was under his tongue, for lust was in his heart.
2. Then there are men who educate youth in sin, Satans captains and marshals; strong men with corrupt hearts, who are never better pleased than when they see the buds of evil swelling and ripening into crime. Beware, ye who hunt for the precious life!
3. Ay, and I know some base men who, if they see young converts, will take a pride in putting stumbling blocks in their way. They no sooner discover that there is some little working of conscience, than they laugh, they sneer, they point the finger.
4. Then there is the infidel, the man who is not content to keep his sin in his own breast, but must needs publish his infamy; he ascends the platform and blasphemes the Almighty to his face; defies the Eternal; takes Scripture to make it the subject of unhallowed jest; and makes religion a theme for comedy.
5. And what shall I say of the unfaithful preacher--the slumbering watchman of souls; the man who swore at Gods altar that he was called of the Holy Ghost to preach the Word of God; the man upon whose lips mens ears waited with attention while he stood like a priest at Gods altar to teach Israel Gods law; the man who performed his duties half-asleep, in a dull and careless manner, until men slept too and thought religion but a dream? What shall I say of the minister of unholy life, whose corrupt practice out of the pulpit has made the most telling things in the pulpit to be of no avail, has blunted the edge of the sword of the Spirit, and turned the back of Gods army in the day of battle?
6. To come yet closer home to this present audience. How much of the blood of man will lie at the door of careless professors. You that make a profession of being Christians and yet live in sin, you are the murderers of souls by thousands.
II. But to pass on; I was, in the second place, to HOLD UP THIS CRIME TO EXECRATION, the chief point being whose blood it is; it is the blood of our brethren. The voice of thy brothers blood crieth unto Me from the ground.
1. Perhaps, young man, it is your natural brothers blood that cries against you.
2. It may be, however, it is the blood of your father or mother. Some of you young people have come to London, and God has met with you in this house of prayer; you still have ungodly parents in the country, have you quite forgotten them? What if your grey-headed sire should die!
3. But what shall I say to those who are not only careless of parents, but are neglecting their own children? Mother, what if the voice of your childs blood should cry to God against you!
III. We are in the third place TO EXPECT THE JUDGMENT. The voice of thy brothers blood crieth unto Me from the ground. It does not cry to a deaf ear, but to the ear of One who hears and feels the cry, and will certainly make bare His arm to smite the offender and to avenge the wrong.
IV. I hope that these terrible things have prepared our minds to hear the better THE VOICE OF EXHORTATION. If there be the voice of blood crying against us today, and we affirm that none of us can altogether escape from it, what shall we do to be rid of the past? Can tears of repentance do it? No. Can promises of amendment make a blank page where there are so many blots and blurs? Ah, no! Nothing that we can do can put away our sin. But may not the future atone? May not future zeal wipe out past carelessness? But a sweeter and a louder cry comes up--Mercy, mercy, mercy; and the Father bows His head and says, Whose blood is that? and the voice replies, It is the blood of Thine only-begotten, shed on Calvary for sin. The Father lays His thunders by, sheathes His sword, stretches out His hand, and crieth to you, the sons of men, Come unto Me, and I will have mercy upon you; turn ye, turn ye; I will pour out My Spirit upon you and ye shall live. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Blood crying to God
Thus from the days of Abel has pleaded the blood of the saints:--How long, O Lord, wilt Thou not judge and avenge our blood? Thus the voice has been going up for ages from the ground, from the cell, from the cave, from the rock, from the glen, from the moorland, from the flood, from the flame, from the scaffold. What spot of Europe, not to take in more, is there from which this cry is not ascending? From the plains of Italy, from the valleys of Piedmont, from the dungeons of Spain, from the streets of Paris, from the stones of Smithfield, from the fields of Ireland, from the moors of Scotland; from all these has been ascending for ages the cry, How long! a cry unsilenced and unsatisfied; deepening and swelling as the ages roll on; a cry which will ere long be fully answered by the coming of Him who is the great avenger of blood and rewarder of His saints. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
Undone
The Rev. Rowland Hill, preaching on one occasion from this text at Cowes, began his sermon as follows: In my way to your island, I visited the county jail at Winchester, and there I saw many who were accused of heavy crimes, but who seemed careless and indifferent, and to have but little sense of their awful situation. But one young man attracted my attention: he kept separate from the rest, and seemed very much troubled. I went up to him and said, And what have you done, young man? Sir, said he, deeply affected, I have done that which I cannot undo, and which has undone me. This, my dear friends, said the minister, is the situation of every one of you. You have each of you done that which has undone you, and which you cannot undo.
The stain of blood
The mind of man has been compared to a white sheet of paper. Now, it is like a white sheet of paper in this, that whatever we write upon it whether with distinct purpose or no, nay, every drop of ink we let fall upon it, makes an abiding mark, a mark which we cannot rub out without much injury to the paper; unless, indeed, the mark has been very slight from the first, and we set about erasing it while it is fresh. In one of the grandest tragedies of our great English poet, there is a scene which, when one reads it, is enough to make ones blood run cold. A woman, whose husband had made himself king of Scotland by means of several murders, and who had been the prompter and partner of his crimes, is brought in while in her sleep, and continually rubbing her hands, as though she were washing them, crying ever and anon, Yet heres a spot . . . What! will these hands neer be clean?. . .heres the smell of blood still; all the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. In these words there is an awful power of truth. We can stain our souls; we can dye them, and double dye them and triple dye them; we can dye them all the colours of bells rainbow, but we cannot wash them white. All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten them, all the fountains of the deep will not wash one little spot out of them. The usurping Queen of Scotland had been guilty of murder; and the stain of blood, it has been very generally believed, cannot be washed out. But it is not the stain of blood alone; every stain soils the soul and none of them can be washed out. Every speck of ink eats into the paper; every sin, however small we may deem it, eats into the soul. If we try to write over it, we make a deeper blot; if we try to scratch it out, the next letters which we write on the spot are blurred. Therefore is it of such vast importance that we should be very careful of what we write. In the tragedy which I was quoting just now, the Queen says, Whats done, cannot be undone. This amounts to the same thing as what I have written, in the sense in which I am now calling upon you to consider these words. Whats done cannot be undone. You know that that is true. You know you cannot push back the wheels of time, and make yesterday come again, so as to do over afresh what you did wrongly then. That which you did yesterday, yesterday will keep: you cannot change it; you cannot make it less or greater; if it was crooked you cannot make it straight. (J. C. Hare.)
Horror of a murderer
Coleridge tells of an Italian who assassinated a nobleman in Rome, and fled to Hamburg for safety. He had not passed many weeks before, one day, in the crowded street, he heard his name called by a voice familiar to him; he turned short round, and saw the face of his victim looking at him with a fixed eye. From that moment he no peace: at all hours, in all places, and amidst all companies, however engaged had he might be, he heard the voice, and could never help looking around; and whenever he so looked round he always encountered the same face, staring close upon him. The Italian said he had struggled long, but life was a burden which he could now no longer bear; and he was resolved to return to Rome, to surrender himself to justice, and expiate his crime on the scaffold.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v10 What have you done?
What have you done?
God uses a rhetorical question to rebuke Cain. This can be translated as a statement. AT: "What you have done is terrible!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
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Your brother's blood is calling out to me
Abel's blood is a metonym for his death, as if it were a person calling out for God to punish Cain. AT: "Your brother's blood is like a person calling out to me to punish the person who killed him" (See: Metonymy)
Now cursed are you from the ground
This can be stated in active form. AT: "I am cursing you so that you will not be able to grow food from the ground" (See: Active or Passive)
which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood
God speaks of the earth as if it were a person who could drink Abel's blood. AT: "which is soaked with your brother's blood" (See: Personification)
from your hand
Here Cain is represented by his "hand," to emphasize that he personally had killed his brother. AT: "that spilled when you killed him" or "from you" (See: Synecdoche)
cultivate
This means to do everything necessary to do so that the plants would grow well. See how "cultivate" is translated in Genesis 2:5.
it will not yield to you its strength
The ground is personified as if it were a person who loses strength. AT: "the ground will not produce much food for you" (See: Personification)
A fugitive and a wanderer
You can join these words together. AT: "A homeless wanderer" (See: Hendiadys)
translationWords
blood
curse
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv10–11 4:10 What have you done? is more an expression…
4:10 What have you done? is more an expression of horror and rebuke than a fact-finding question (cp. 3:13). • Abel’s blood is personified as a legal witness that cries out against Cain. • from the ground: See study note on 4:11-12.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.