Cain and abel

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Often appears with: justice as a virtue · crime and punishment · torah and gospel · the nature and attributes of God · sin, guilt, and repentance · seth and enos · sacrifice and jealousy · religious persecution and toleration · myth and the gods of the nations · murder by stone · moses holy land · mark protecting cain

Usually: narrative (4) · injustice endured (3) · reverence (2) · deception discovered (1) · temptation (1) · the test or trial (1) · censure (1) · detachment (1) · indignation (1) · lament (1)

The Koran (Al-Qur'an) secondary

G. Margoliouth (George) · 610-632 CE (revelations compiled progressively; book published after the prophet’s death)
Book carefully concocted from various sources, and with much extraneous aid, and published as a divine oracle, then it would seem that the author is at once open to the charge of the grossest imposture, and even of impious blasphemy. The evidence rather shews, that in all he did and wrote, Muhammad was actuated by a sincere desire to deliver his countrymen from the grossness of its debasing idolatries-that he was urged on by an intense desire to proclaim that great truth of the Unity of the Godhead which had taken full possession of his own soul-that the end to be attained justified to his mind the means he adopted in the production of his Suras-that he worked himself up into a belief that he had received a divine call-and that he was carried on by the force of circumstances, and by gradually increasing successes, to believe himself the accredited messenger of Heaven. The earnestness of those convictions which at Mecca sustained him under persecution, and which perhaps led him, at any price as it were, and by any means, not even excluding deceit and falsehood, to endeavour to rescue his countrymen from idolatry,-naturally stiffened at Medina into tyranny and unscrupulous violence. At the same time, he was probably, more or less, throughout his whole career, the victim of a certain amount of self-deception. A cataleptic13 subject from his early youth, born-according to the traditions-of a highly nervous and excitable mother, he would be peculiarly liable to morbid and fantastic hallucinations, and alternations of excitement and depression, which would win for him, in the eyes of his ignorant countrymen, the credit of being inspired. It would be easy for him to persuade himself that he was "the seal of the Prophets," > Book had believed, it had surely been better for them! Believers there are among them, but most of them are perverse. (64/73)

The passage continues Sura V with covenant themes: Israelite and Christian covenants, the coming of a “light and a clear Book,” disputation with Jews and Christians, references to Moses and the holy land, and the story of Cain and Abel.

But they who are Infidels and treat our signs as lies-these shall be mated with Hell fire. O Believers! recollect God's favour upon you, when11 certain folk were minded to stretch forth their hands against you, but He kept their hands from you. Fear God then: and on God let the faithful trust. Of old did God accept the covenant of the children of Israel,12 and out of them we raised up twelve leaders, and God said, …

The first New Testament printed in English primary

William Tyndale · 1520s; English translation of the Pentateuch and New Testament material issued in the 1520s (later printed English Bible contents in this edition).
Chapter .j. > Chapter .iiij.

Genesis 4–5 tells how Cain and Abel bring offerings, Cain kills Abel, receives a mark and exile to the land of Nod, builds a city named for Enoch, and traces descendants to Seth and Enos calling on the LORD.

And Adam lay with Heva is wife, which conceived and bare Cain, and said: I have gotten a man of the LORD. And she proceeded forth and bare his brother Abel: And Abel became a shepherd, and Cain became a plowman. And it fortuned in process of time, that Cain brought of the fruit of the earth: an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he brought also of the firstlings of his sheep and of the fat of them. And the LORD looked…

Paradise Lost primary

John Milton · 1660–1665
BOOK I > Part arable and tilth, whereon were sheaves (1/4)

Adam sees Cain and Abel: one brother offers first fruits sincerely and his sacrifice is accepted, while the other is rejected and driven by envy to murder, revealing death and the consequences of sin.

New reaped; the other part sheep-walks and folds; I’ the midst an altar as the land-mark stood, Rustick, of grassy sord; thither anon A sweaty reaper from his tillage brought First fruits, the green ear, and the yellow sheaf, Unculled, as came to hand; a shepherd next, More meek, came with the firstlings of his flock, Choicest and best; then, sacrificing, laid The inwards and their fat, with incense strowed, On the c…

Antiquities of the Jews primary

Josephus, Flavius · c. 93–94 CE
BOOK I. Containing The Interval Of Three Thousand Eight Hundred And > CHAPTER 2. Concerning The Posterity Of Adam, And The Ten Generations (1/2)

Josephus narrates Cain and Abel’s contrasting lives, Abel’s righteous sacrifice, Cain’s jealousy, the murder and burial of Abel, God’s interrogation, and Cain’s curse and marked exile.

From Him To The Deluge. 1. Adam and Eve had two sons: the elder of them was named Cain; which name, when it is interpreted, signifies a possession: the younger was Abel, which signifies sorrow. They had also daughters. Now the two brethren were pleased with different courses of life: for Abel, the younger, was a lover of righteousness; and believing that God was present at all his actions, he excelled in virtue; and…