The Mark of Cain

The curse of Cain and the mark of Cain are phrases that originated in the story of Adam and Eve in the Jewish and Christian Bibles. In the stories, if someone did something to harm Cain, the damage would come back sevenfold. Some interpretations view this as a physical mark, whereas other interpretations see the "mark" as a sign, and not as a physical marking on Cain himself. The King James Version of the Bible reads "set a mark upon Cain".

The name Cain (He. qayin, meaning spear) is identical with the name Kenite (also qayin in Hebrew), which led some scholars to speculate that the curse of Cain may have arisen as a condemnation of the Kenites. However, in the Hebrew Bible, the Kenites are generally described favorably, and may have had an important influence on the early Hebrew religion (see Kenite hypothesis).

There is no clear consensus as to what Cain's mark is. The word translated as "mark" in Gen. 4:15 is 'owth, which could mean a sign, an omen, a warning, or a remembrance. In the Torah, the same word is used to describe the stars as signs or omens (Gen. 1:14), the rainbow as the sign of God's promise to never again destroy his creation as with the flood (Gen. 9:12), circumcision as a token of God's covenant with Abraham (Gen. 17:11), and the miracles performed by Moses before the Pharaoh (Exodus 4:8,9,17,28; 7:3; 8:23; 10:1,2).

The narrative of the curse of Cain is in the text of Genesis 4:11-16. The curse was a result of Cain murdering his brother Abel and lying about the murder to God. When Cain spilled his brother's blood, the earth became cursed as soon as the blood hit the ground. In a sense, the earth was left "drinking Abel's blood".Genesis 4:12 gives a two part sentencing for Cain's curse. The first concerns the earth that was cursed by Abel's blood. Should Cain attempt to farm the land, the earth would not yield produce for him. This may imply why he went on to build cities, namely the City of Enoch. The second part of the curse marks Cain as a fugitive (Hebrew: נע‎ ) and wanderer (Hebrew: נד‎ ). The combination of these Hebrew words נע ונד‎, "fugitive" and "wanderer", is unique in the Hebrew Bible. Modern interpretation of the Hebrew verse 12 suggest that Cain went on to live a nomadic lifestyle as well as being excluded from the family unit. In the Septuagint, the emphasis of Cain's curse is dramatically increased by the combination of the Greek participles στένων καὶ τρέμων ("groaning and shaking upon the earth").Syriac Christianity interprets the Greek version as Cain experiencing a real physical affliction that when witnessed by others, they would know who he is. Philo interprets the Greek verse 12 as an allegory for Cain's fear of being . The Samaritan Pentateuch and the Targums translate to "an exile and unstable".

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