Genesis 4:13

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

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Cain	קַ֖יִן Ka.yin	H7014	Kajin · proper noun, a man's name
said	וַיֹּ֥אמֶר vai.Yo.mer	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD	יְהוָ֑ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
punishment	עֲוֹנִ֖י 'a.vo.Ni	H5771	perversity · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
greater	גָּד֥וֹל ga.Dol	H1419	great (in any sense) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
bear	מִנְּשֹֽׂא mi.ne.So'	H5375	to lift · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Job 15:22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.
Revelation 16:9 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 hi…
Revelation 16:11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
Revelation 16:21 And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague o…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 4:13-15

We have here a further account of the proceedings against Cain. I. Here is Cain's complaint of the sentence passed upon him, as hard and severe. Some make him to speak the language of despair, and read it, My iniquity is greater than that it may be forgiven; and so what he says is a reproach and affront to the mercy of God, which those only shall have the benefit of that hope in it. There is forgiveness with the God of pardons for the greatest sins and sinners; but those forfeit it who despair of it. Just now Cain made nothing of his sin, but now he is in the other extreme: Satan drives his vassals from presumption to despair. We cannot think too ill of sin, provided we do not think it unpar…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 4:13

And Cain said . . . My punishment is greater than I can bear--What an overwhelming sense of misery; but no sign of penitence, nor cry for pardon.

Adam Clarke on Genesis 4:13

My punishment is greater than I can bear - The margin reads, Mine iniquity is greater than that it may be forgiven. The original words, גדול עוני מנשוא gadol avoni minneso, may be translated, Is my crime too great to be forgiven? words which we may presume he uttered on the verge of black despair. It is most probable that עון avon signifies rather the crime than the punishment; in this sense it is used Lev 26:41, Lev 26:43 Sa1 28:10; Kg2 7:9; and נשא nasa signifies to remit or forgive. The marginal reading is, therefore, to be preferred to that in the text.

John Gill on Genesis 4:13

And Cain said unto the Lord,.... In the anguish of his spirit and the distress of his mind: my punishment is greater than I can bear; thus complaining of the mercy of God, as if he acted a cruel part, inflicting on him more than he could endure; and arraigning his justice, as if it was more than he deserved, or ought in equity to be laid on him; whereas it was abundantly less than the demerit of his sin, for his punishment was but a temporal one; for, excepting the horrors and terrors of his guilty conscience, it was no other than a heavier curse on the land he tilled, and banishment from his native place, and being a fugitive and wanderer in other countries; and if such a punishment is int…

The Church Fathers

Someone may say, "Behold he has confessed, and confessed with great precision"—but all to no avail, dearly beloved: the confession comes too late. You see, he should have done this at the right time when he was in a position to find mercy from the judge.
— John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 19.3

My iniquity is greater than that I may deserve pardon. Behold, you cast me out today from your presence, and I shall be hidden from your face and from the face of the earth, and I shall be a wanderer and a fugitive on the earth. I am cast out, he says, from your sight, and the consciousness of my crime not enduring the very light itself, I shall be hidden to lie in concealment. Or certainly you cast me out from the face of the earth, namely that in any region of the lands, among any inhabitants of this world, I may not be allowed to remain safe and free, and also hidden from your face, that I may no longer deserve to see it, which until today, by often beholding and hearing your voice, I lived more happily.
— Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Abel — (Heb. Hebhel), a breath, or vanity, the second son of Adam and Eve. He was put to death by his brother Cain (Gen. 4:1-16). Guided by the instruction of their father, the two brothers were trained in…
Cain — A possession; a spear. (1.) The first-born son of Adam and Eve (Gen. 4). He became a tiller of the ground, as his brother Abel followed the pursuits of pastoral life. He was “a sullen, self-willed,…
Deep — Used to denote (1) the grave or the abyss (Rom. 10:7; Luke 8:31); (2) the deepest part of the sea (Ps. 69:15); (3) the chaos mentioned in Gen. 1:2; (4) the bottomless pit, hell (Rev. 9:1, 2; 11:7;…
Hebrew — A name applied to the Israelites in Scripture only by one who is a foreigner (Gen. 39:14, 17; 41:12, etc.), or by the Israelites when they speak of themselves to foreigners (40:15; Ex. 1:19), or when…
Naamah — The beautiful. (1.) The daughter of Lamech and Zillah (Gen. 4: 22). (2.) The daughter of the king of Ammon, one of the wives of Solomon, the only one who appears to have borne him a son, viz.,…
Abel · 1. — 1.
Cain · .Jealousy and crime of — .Jealousy and crime of
Chiding · General references — General references
Conviction · OF SIN — OF SIN
Curse · .Against — .Against
Despair · Exemplified: Cain — Exemplified: Cain
Despondency · Abel — Abel
Judgments

Genesis 4:13

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 4:13-15

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 4:13

Adam Clarke on Genesis 4:13

John Gill on Genesis 4:13

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Genesis 4:13

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 4:13-15

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 4:13

Adam Clarke on Genesis 4:13

John Gill on Genesis 4:13

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Genesis 4:13

Keil & Delitzsch on Genesis 4:11-14

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Genesis 4:13-14

Rashi on Genesis 4:13