Genesis 4:1-24 ESV

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:9

Verse 9 9.Where is Abel ? They who suppose that the father made this inquiry of Cain respecting his son Abel, enervate the whole force of the instruction which Moses here intended to deliver; namely, that God, both by secret inspiration, and by some extraordinary method, cited the parricide (242) to his tribunal, as if he had thundered from heaven. For, what I have before said must be firmly maintained that, as God now speaks until us through the Scriptures, so he formerly manifested himself to... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:10

Verse 10 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 order to extort an unwilling confession of his guilt; for in no racks or tortures of any kind is there so much force to constrain evildoers, as there was efficacy in the thunder of the Divine voice to cast down Cain in confusion to the ground. For God no longer asks whether he had done it; but,... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:11

Verse 11 11.And now art thou cursed from the earth. Cain, having been convicted of the crime, judgment is now pronounced against him. And first, God constitutes the earth the minister of his vengeance, as having been polluted by the impious and horrible parricide: as if he had said, ‘Thou didst just now deny to me the murder which thou hast committed, but the senseless earth itself will demand thy punishment.’ He does this, however, to aggravate the enormity of the crime, as if a kind of... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:12

Verse 12 12.When thou tillest the ground. This verse is the exposition of the former; for it expresses more clearly what is meant by being cursed from the earth, namely, that the earth defrauds its cultivators of the fruit of their toil. Should any one object that this punishment had before been alike inflicted on all mortals, in the person of Adam; my answer is, I have no doubt that something of the benediction which had hitherto remained, was now further withdrawn with respect to the... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:13

Verse 13 13.My punishment is greater, etc. Nearly all commentators agree that this is the language of desperation; because Cain, confounded by the judgment of God, had no remaining hope of pardon. And this, indeed, is true, that the reprobate are never conscious of their evils, till a ruin, from which they cannot escape, overtakes them; yea, truly, when the sinner, obstinate to the last, mocks the patience of God, this is the due reward of his late repentance that he feels a horrible torment... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:14

Verse 14 14.Every one that findeth me. Since he is no longer covered by the protection of God, he concludes that he shall be exposed to injury and violence from all men. And he reasons justly; for the hand of God alone marvelously preserves us amid so many dangers. And they have spoken prudently who have said, not only that our life hangs on a thread, but also that we have been received into this fleeting life, out of the womb, from a hundred deaths. Cain, however, in this place, not only... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:15

Verse 15 15.Therefore, whosoever slayeth Cain. They who think that it was Cain’s wish to perish immediately by one death, in order that he might not be agitated by continual dangers, and that the prolongation of his life was granted him only as a punishment, have no reason, that I can see, for thus speaking. But far more absurd is the manner in which many of the Jews mutilate this sentence. First, they imagine, in this clause, the use of the figure ἀποσιώπησις, according to which something not... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:16

Verse 16 16.And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. Cain is said to have departed from the presence of God, because, whereas he had hitherto lived in the earth as in an abode belonging to God, now, like an exile removed far from God’s sight, he wanders beyond the limits of His protection. Or certainly, (which is not less probable,) Moses represents him as having stood at the bar of judgment till he was condemned: but now, when God ceased to speak with him, being freed from the sense of... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:17

Verse 17 17.And Cain knew his wife. From the context we may gather that Cain, before he slew his brother, had married a wife; otherwise Moses would now have related something respecting his marriage; because it would be a fact worthy to be recorded, that any one of his sisters could be found, who would not shrink with horror from committing herself into the hand of one whom she knew to be defiled with a brother’s blood; and while a free choice was still given her, should rather choose... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:19

Verse 19 19.And Lamech took unto him two wives. We have here the origin of polygamy in a perverse and degenerate race; and the first author of it, a cruel man, destitute of all humanity. Whether he had been impelled by an immoderate desire of augmenting his own family, as proud and ambitious men are wont to be, or by mere lust, it is of little consequence to determine; because, in either way he violated the sacred law of marriage, which had been delivered by God. For God had determined, that... read more

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:9

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:10

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:11

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:12

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:13

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:14

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:15

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:16

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:17

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 4:19

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