Today's verse comes from the Book of Genesis. Cain stands before God with his brother's blood on his hands. Cain lies to God and defies any responsibility for his murdered brother.
Cain stands in a field where the soil beneath him is soaked with his brother's blood. He killed Abel in a jealous rage after God rejected his offering but accepted Abel's. The insult burned inside him until he struck his brother down. Now God approaches with a single question. Cain lies flatly and throws back a defiant challenge, pretending he does not know where Abel is. He asks if he must watch over another person. The first human born on earth stands before his Creator as a murderer who claims he answers only to himself.
The question Cain throws at God has echoed through history as the world's first attempt to dodge moral obligation. God does not argue. He answers with a curse that severs Cain from the ground he once farmed and marks him as a fugitive. Jude would later warn believers not to follow the way of Cain, citing this moment as the original pattern of evil.
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