Genesis 4:13
New International Version
Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear.

New Living Translation
Cain replied to the LORD, “My punishment is too great for me to bear!

English Standard Version
Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.

Berean Standard Bible
But Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.

King James Bible
And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.

New King James Version
And Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear!

New American Standard Bible
Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is too great to endure!

NASB 1995
Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is too great to bear!

NASB 1977
And Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is too great to bear!

Legacy Standard Bible
And Cain said to Yahweh, “My punishment is too great to bear!

Amplified Bible
Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.

Christian Standard Bible
But Cain answered the LORD, “My punishment is too great to bear!

Holman Christian Standard Bible
But Cain answered the LORD, “My punishment is too great to bear!

American Standard Version
And Cain said unto Jehovah, My punishment is greater than I can bear.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And Qayn said to LORD JEHOVAH, “My crime is greater than what may be forgiven.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And Cain said to the Lord God, My crime is too great for me to be forgiven.

Contemporary English Version
"This punishment is too hard!" Cain said.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And Cain said to the Lord: My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon.

English Revised Version
And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
But Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is more than I can stand!

Good News Translation
And Cain said to the LORD, "This punishment is too hard for me to bear.

International Standard Version
"My punishment is too great to bear," Cain told the LORD.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And Cain said unto the LORD: 'My punishment is greater than I can bear.

Literal Standard Version
And Cain says to YHWH, “My punishment is too great than to bear;

Majority Standard Bible
But Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.

New American Bible
Cain said to the LORD: “My punishment is too great to bear.

NET Bible
Then Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is too great to endure!

New Revised Standard Version
Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear!

New Heart English Bible
Cain said to God, "My punishment is greater than I can bear.

Webster's Bible Translation
And Cain said to the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.

World English Bible
Cain said to Yahweh, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.

Young's Literal Translation
And Cain saith unto Jehovah, 'Greater is my punishment than to be borne;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Cain Murders Abel
12When you till the ground, it will no longer yield its produce to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” 13But Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14Behold, this day You have driven me from the face of the earth, and from Your face I will be hidden; I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”…

Cross References
Genesis 4:12
When you till the ground, it will no longer yield its produce to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth."

Genesis 4:14
Behold, this day You have driven me from the face of the earth, and from Your face I will be hidden; I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."


Treasury of Scripture

And Cain said to the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.

Job 15:22
He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.

Revelation 16:9,11,21
And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory…

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Bear Borne Cain Great Greater Punishment Strength
Genesis 4
1. The birth, occupation, and offerings of Cain and Abel.
8. Cain murders his brother Abel.
11. The curse of Cain.
17. Has a son called Enoch, and builds a city, which he calls after his name.
18. His descendants, with Lamech and his two wives.
25. The birth of Seth,
26. and Enos.














(13, 14) My punishment (or my iniquity) is greater than I can bear.--Literally, than can be borne, or "forgiven." It is in accordance with the manner of the Hebrew language to have only one word for an act and its result. Thus work and wages are expressed by the same word in Isaiah 62:11. The full meaning, therefore, is, "My sin is past forgiveness, and its result is an intolerable punishment." This latter idea seems foremost in Cain's mind, and is dwelt upon in Genesis 4:14. He there complains that he is driven, not "from the face of the earth," which was impossible, but from the adamah, his dear native soil, banished from which, he must go into the silence and solitude of an earth unknown and untracked. And next, "from thy face shall I be hid." Naturally, Cain had no idea of an omnipresent God, and away from the adamah he supposed that it would be impossible to enjoy the Divine favour and protection. Without this there would be no safety for him anywhere, so that he must rove about perpetually, and "every one that findeth me shall slay me." In the adamah Jehovah would protect him; away from it, men, unseen by Jehovah, might do as they liked. But who were these men? Some commentators answer, Adam's other sons, especially those who had attached themselves to Abel. Others say that Adam's creation was not identical with that of Genesis 1:27, but was that of the highest type of the human race, and had been preceded by the production of inferior races, of whose existence there are widespread proofs. But others, with more probability, think that Cain's was a vain apprehension. How could he know that Adam and his family were the sole inhabitants of the earth? Naturally he expected to find farther on what he had left behind; a man and woman with stalwart sons: and that these, regarding him as an interloper come to rob them, and seeing in his ways proof of guilt, would at once attack and slay him.

Verses 13, 14. - And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment (or my sin) is greater than I can bear. Or, than can be borne away. Interpreted in either way, this is scarcely the language of confession, "sufficiens confessio, sod intempestiva" (Chrysostom); but, as the majority of interpreters are agreed, of desperation (Calvin). According to the first rendering Cain is understood as deploring not the enormity of his sin, but the severity of his punishment, under which he reels and staggers as one amazed (Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Calvin, Keil, Delitzsch, Murphy, Alford, Speakers, Kalisch). According to the second, from the terrific nature of the blow which had descended on him Cain awakens to the conviction that his sin was too heinous to be forgiven (margin, Septuagint, Vulgate, Theodotion, Arabic, Syrlac, Onkelos, Samaritan, Gesenins, Wordsworth). The first of these is favored by the remaining portion of his address, which shows that that which had paralyzed his guilty spirit was not the wickedness of his deed, but the overwhelming retribution which had leapt so unexpectedly from its bosom. The real cause of his despair was the sentence which had gone forth against him, and the articles of which he now recapitulates. Behold, thou hast driven me this day - "Out of the sentence of his own conscience Cain makes a clear, positive, Divine decree of banishment" (Lange) - from the face of the earth. Literally, the ground, i.e. the land of Eden. "Adam's sin brought expulsion from the inner circle, Cain's from the outer" (Bonar). And from thy face shall I be hid. Either

(1) from the place where the Divine presence was specially manifested, i.e. at the gate of Eden, which does not contradict (Kalisch) the great Biblical truth of the Divine omnipresence (cf. Exodus 20:24); or,

(2) more generally, from the enjoyment of the Divine favor (cf. Deuteronomy 31:18). "To be hidden from the face of God is to be not regarded by God, or not protected by his guardian care" (Calvin). And I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond. "A vagabond and a runagate" (Tyndale, Coverdale, 'Bishops' Bible'). Vagus et profugus (Vulgate; vagus et infestus agitationibus (Tremellius and Junins). In the earth. The contemplation of his miserable doom, acting on his guilty conscience, inspired him with a fearful apprehension, to which in closing he gives expression in the hearing of his Judge. And it shall come to pass, that every one - not beast (Josephus, Kimchi, Michaelis), but person - that findeth me shall slay me. "Amongst the ancient Romans a man cursed for any wickedness might be freely killed (Dionysius Halicarnass., 1. 2). Amongst the Gauls the excommunicated were deprived of any benefit of law (Caesar. 'de Bello Gallico,' 50:6; cf. also Sophocles, '(Edip. Tyrannus')" (Ainsworth). The apprehension which Cain cherished has been explained as an oversight on the part of the narrator (Schumann and Tuch); as a mistake on the part of Cain, who had no reason to know that the world was not populated (T. Lewis); as referring to the blood avengers of the future who might arise from his father's family (Rosenmüller, Delitzsch); and also, and perhaps with as much probability, as indicating that already, in the 130 years that had gone, Adam's descendants were not limited to the two brothers and their wives (Havernick).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
But Cain
קַ֖יִן (qa·yin)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 7014: Cain -- a city in southern Judah

said
וַיֹּ֥אמֶר (way·yō·mer)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

to
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

the LORD,
יְהוָ֑ה (Yah·weh)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3068: LORD -- the proper name of the God of Israel

“My punishment
עֲוֺנִ֖י (‘ă·wō·nî)
Noun - common singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 5771: Iniquity, guilt, punishment for iniquity

[is] greater
גָּד֥וֹל (gā·ḏō·wl)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 1419: Great, older, insolent

than I can bear.
מִנְּשֹֽׂא׃ (min·nə·śō)
Preposition-m | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 5375: To lift, carry, take


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OT Law: Genesis 4:13 Cain said to Yahweh My punishment (Gen. Ge Gn)
Genesis 4:12
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