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Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

Genesis 4:10

‘And Yahweh said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's bloods (literally) is crying to me from the ground.” '

“What have you done?” compare Genesis 3:13. These parallels suggest that the story of the Garden of Eden was known to the original author in some form.

The plural for blood is intensive, referring to shed blood. It may also vividly suggest the different rivulets of blood that are staining the ground, sown by the ‘worker of the ground'. It is not said to be the dead body that cries out, but the blood soaking the ground. Is this ironically seen as Cain's latest ‘offering' of his fruits? And it is an offering of blood. By these words God makes clear that nothing is hidden from Him. Even the blood of a victim cries to Him in a loud voice, for the blood is the life, and the life belongs to him (Deuteronomy 12:23).

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See also Genesis 4:10 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse Genesis 4:10. _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 kn...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    - Section IV - The Family of Adam - Cain and Abel 1. קין _qayı̂n_, Qain (Cain), “spear-shaft,” and קנה _qānah_, “set up, establish, gain, buy,” contain the biliteral root קן _qan_, “set up, erect, g...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 4 After the Fall and the Two Seeds _ 1. Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1)_ 2. Their offerings (Genesis 4:3) 3. The divine remonstrance (Genesis 4:6) 4. Abel slain by his brother ...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    The Story of Cain and Abel. This belongs to the J cycle of stories, but apparently not to the same stratum as Genesis 4:3, for it is assumed that the earth has a population from which Cain fears venge...

  • B. W. Johnson's Bible Commentary

    THY BROTHER'S BLOOD CRIETH UNTO ME FROM THE GROUND. The murderer has his concealments stripped off and stands revealed. No man had accused him, but an appeal had been made to God. The blood of Abel, s...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    BLOOD. Hebrew "bloods", denoting his posterity Matthew 23:35....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _What hast thou done?_ The same question as that put to Eve (Genesis 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 t...

  • Charles Simeon's Horae Homileticae

    DISCOURSE: 9 THE DEATH OF ABEL Genesis 4:8. And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. And the Lo...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    THE VOICE OF THY BROTHER'S BLOOD CRIETH, &C.— i.e.. Calls upon me for vengeance. See ch. Genesis 18:20....

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    PART SEVENTEEN THE BEGINNING OF TRUE RELIGION (Genesis 4:1-15) 1. _Preliminary Definitions_ It is doubtful that there is a more ambiguous word in our language today than the word religion. It has li...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    _AND HE SAID, WHAT HAST THOU DONE? THE VOICE OF THY BROTHER'S BLOOD CRIETH UNTO ME FROM THE GROUND._ The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground - Hebrew, bloods. The word in the...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    CRIETH UNTO ME] The thought of great evils crying to God is frequently met with in Scripture: cp. Genesis 18:20; Genesis 19:13. The ground, which has been unwillingly obliged to drink the blood of Abe...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    CAIN AND ABEL. THE DESCENDANTS OF CAIN The narrative, which forms part of the Primitive document, impressively shows how sin, having once appeared, became hereditary in the human race, and speedily de...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    GOD’S ANCIENT PEOPLE GENESIS _ALUN OWEN_ CHAPTER 4 CAIN KILLS ABEL V1 Adam had sex with his wife Eve and she became *pregnant. Her son Cain was born. She said, ‘I have gained a man by the *Lord’...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    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 v...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    וַ יֹּ֖אמֶר מֶ֣ה עָשִׂ֑יתָ קֹ֚ול דְּמֵ֣י אָחִ

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    CAIN AND ABEL Genesis 4:1 IT is not the purpose of this narrator to write the history of the world. It is not his purpose to write even the history of mankind. His object is to write the history of r...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    CAIN'S CAREER Genesis 4:9 God's first question to the soul is, “Adam, where art thou?” The next, “Where is thy brother?” We _are_ our brother's keepers. All related to us, within our reach, or needin...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    The degeneration of the first man and woman was transmitted, the firstborn being manifestly an inheritor of the fallen nature of his parents. His mother named him Cain, intimating a hope that the seed...

  • Gary Hampton Commentaries

    HE YET SPEAKS! Abel is dead, but he still speaks (Hebrews 11:4). His blood calls for vengeance, thus speaking (Hebrews 12:24; Genesis 4:10). However, it seems he speaks more clearly through his exampl...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    And he said, What hast thou done? the (i) voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. (i) God avenges the wrongs against his saints, though no one complains: for the iniquity itself...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. Hebrews 12:24. In the original, it is, thy Brother's bloods; as if, not only the death of Abel was co...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    There is one characteristic of divine revelation to which attention may be profitably called as a starting point. We have to do with facts. The Bible alone is a revelation of facts, and, we can add (n...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    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 orde...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    But grace could work. The grace of a God above the evil of man, and Abel approaches Him by faith. Hereon follows the separation of the families of God and of the enemy, of the world and of faith. Abel...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    AND HE SAID,.... Not Cain, the last speaker, but the Lord God, WHAT HAST THOU DONE? what an heinous crime hast thou committed! how aggravated is it! I know what thou hast done; thou hast slain thy br...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    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...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _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...

  • KJV Original Language Details

    1 The birth, trade, and religion of Cain and Abel. 8 The murder of Abel. 9 The curse of Cain. 17 Enoch the first citie. 19 Lamech and his two wiues. 25 The birth of Seth, 26 and Enos. 1 AND Ada...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    GOD'S JUDGMENT UPON CAIN...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    And He said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground. The great Judge now flatly confronts the murderer with the evidence of his crime: The voice of the bl...

  • Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures

    SECOND SECTION _Cain and Abel. The Cainites. The ungodly Worldliness of the First Civilization._ GENESIS 4:1-26 1And Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived, and bare Cain [the gotten, or possessi...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    CAIN AND ABEL Adam and Eve, having acquired a sinful nature, could only communicate the same nature to their children. Their firstborn was named Cain, which means "smith" or "fabricator," one who plan...

  • Marginal Notes in the King James Version (1611)

    BLOOD: _ Heb._ bloods...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    8-15 Malice in the heart ends in murder by the hands. Cain slew Abel, his own brother, his own mother's son, whom he ought to have loved; his younger brother, whom he ought to have protected; a good...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    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, o...

  • Notes on the Pentateuch by Charles Henry Mackintosh

    & Genesis 5:1-32 As each section of the Book of Genesis opens before us, we are furnished with fresh evidence of the fact that we are travelling over, what a recent writer has well termed, "the seed-...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Genesis 4:10 said H559 (H8799) What H4100 done H6213 (H8804) voice H6963 brothers H251 blood H1818 cries...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

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  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    Genesis 4:8 Sin finds in the very constitution of the human mind the enginery of its own retribution. I. The very consciousness of sin is destructive of a sinner's peace. II. Sin tends to develop s...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

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  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Genesis 4:1. _I have gotten._ קניתי _kaniti,_ from the root _kana,_ he possessed. The LXX have betrayed their ignorance of the Eternal Word, or Wisdom, by frequently rendering this word _created._ God...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth_ 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 supe...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground_ THE STORY OF CAIN AND ABEL I. RELIGION ACTUATED MEN IN THE VERY EARLIEST TIMES. II. THE MERE NATURAL RELIGION IS ESSENTIALLY DEFECT...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    GENESIS—NOTE ON GENESIS 4:10 Because his brother’s blood cries out to God FROM THE GROUND, Cain will no longer be able to cultivate the soil. As seen throughout Scripture, human sin has an impact on t...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Genesis 4:9_ THE BITTER CURSE WHICH SIN BRINGS UPON AN INDIVIDUAL LIFE We have been thoroughly educated in the nature and effects of sin by the sacred narrative, n...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION GENESIS 4:1 Exiled from Eden, o'er, canopied by grace, animated by hope, assured of the Divine forgiveness, and filled with a sweet peace, the first pair enter on their life experience of...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Lets turn to Genesis Chapter four. Adam and Eve have been expelled from the Garden of Eden because of their disobedience to God. And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    What. Genesis 3:13 Joshua 7:19 Psalms 50:21 blood. Heb. bloods. crieth. Genesis 18:20...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    SEEING CHRIST IN CAIN AND ABEL Genesis 4:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS 1. Cain and Abel came by natural generation. The only human beings God ever created were Adam and Eve. They were created with the power...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

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  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    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 we...

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