Cain

Cain is a biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions. He is the elder brother of Abel, and the firstborn son of Adam and Eve, the first couple within the Bible. He was a farmer who gave an offering of his crops to God. However, God was not pleased and favored Abel's offering over Cain's. Out of jealousy, Cain killed his brother, for which he was punished by God with the curse and mark of Cain. He had several descendants, starting with his son Enoch and including Lamech.

The narrative is notably unclear on God's reason for rejecting Cain's sacrifice. Some traditional interpretations consider Cain to be the originator of evil, violence, or greed. According to Genesis, Cain was the first human born and the first murderer.

A question arising early in the story is why God rejected Cain's sacrifice. The text states, "In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor." Noteworthy is the difference in the type of sacrifice: fruits of the soil are renewable and bloodless, while fat portions are set apart for the Lord and taken from the firstborn, pointing to an act of faith, since it is not guaranteed there will be more. The Midrash suggests that although Abel brought the best meat from his flock, Cain did not set aside the best of his harvest for God.

Similar to the internalized spiritual death, God warns Adam and Eve off from eating the forbidden fruit—they do not physically die immediately, but over time, their bodies age and die—the Lord warns Cain that his inappropriate anger is waiting to consume him: "If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door. It desires to have you, but you must rule over it.

According to Genesis 4:1–16, Cain treacherously murdered his brother, Abel, lied about the murder to God, and as a result, was cursed and marked for life. With the earth left cursed to drink Abel's blood, Cain could no longer farm the land. He becomes a "fugitive and wanderer" and receives a mark from God - commonly referred to as the mark of Cain - so that no one can enact vengeance on him.

Exegesis of the Septuagint's narrative, "groaning and shaking upon the earth" has Cain suffering from body tremors. Interpretations extend Cain's curse to his descendants, where they all died in the Great Deluge as retribution for the loss of Abel's potential offspring.

The Pearl of Great Price, a Mormon book of scripture, has been interpreted to depict the descendants of Cain as dark-skinned, and church president Brigham Young stated, "What is the mark? You will see it on the countenance of every African you ever did see...." However, this position was disavowed by modern leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In another biblical account, Ham discovered his father Noah drunk and naked in his tent. Because of this, Noah cursed Ham's son Canaan to be "servants of servants". Although the scriptures do not mention Ham's skin color, some doctrines associated the curse with black people and used it to justify slavery.