Genesis 4:16

And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Cain	קַ֖יִן Ka.yin	H7014	Kajin · proper noun, a man's name
out	וַיֵּ֥צֵא vai.Ye.tze'	H3318	to go (causatively · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
presence	מִלִּפְנֵ֣י mi.lif.Nei	H6440	the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
LORD	יְהוָ֑ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
dwelt	וַיֵּ֥שֶׁב vai.Ye.shev	H3427	properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
land	בְּאֶֽרֶץ be.'e.retz-	H776	the earth (at large · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
Nod	נ֖וֹד Nod	H5113	Nod · proper noun, a place name
east	קִדְמַת kid.mat-	H6926	the forward part (or relatively) East (often adverbially · noun, common feminine singular construct
Eden	עֵֽדֶן 'E.den	H5731	Eden · proper noun, a place name

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

Genesis 3:8 And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presenc…
Genesis 4:14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagab…
Exodus 20:18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw…
2 Kings 13:23 And the LORD was gracious unto them, and had compassion on them, and had respect unto them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and…
2 Kings 24:20 For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebell…
Job 2:7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
Jeremiah 23:39 Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you o…
Jeremiah 52:3 For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelle…

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 4:16-18

We have here a further account of Cain, and what became of him after he was rejected of God. I. He tamely submitted to that part of his sentence by which he was hidden from God's face; for (Gen 4:16) he went out from the presence of the Lord, that is, he willingly renounced God and religion, and was content to forego its privileges, so that he might not be under its precepts. He forsook Adam's family and altar, and cast off all pretensions to the fear of God, and never came among good people, nor attended on God's ordinances, any more. Note, Hypocritical professors, that have dissembled and trifled with God Almighty, are justly left to themselves, to do something that is grossly scandalous,…

Read the whole note in the console

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 4:16

presence of the Lord--the appointed place of worship at Eden. Leaving it, he not only severed himself from his relatives but forsook the ordinances of religion, probably casting off all fear of God from his eyes so that the last end of this man is worse than the first (Mat 12:45). land of Nod--of flight or exile--thought by many to have been Arabia-PetrÃ&brvbra--which was cursed to sterility on his account.

Adam Clarke on Genesis 4:16

The land of Nod - As נוד nod signifies the same as נד sa , a vagabond, some think this verse should be rendered, And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, from the east of Eden, and dwelt a vagabond on the earth; thus the curse pronounced on him, Gen 4:12, was accomplished.

John Gill on Genesis 4:16

And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord,.... Either from the place where the Lord was talking with him; or from the place where his glorious Majesty usually resided, where was some visible token of his presence, some stream of light and glory which showed him to be there, and which was at the east of the garden of Eden; from whence Cain was obliged to go, not being suffered to appear any more before God, or among his worshippers: there was a place near Tripoli in Syria, near where Mount Lebanon ends, called , "the face of God", made mention of by Polybius (e), and Strabo (f): and was near those parts where some place the garden of Eden; and it is possible might have its name from so…

The Church Fathers

And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, that is, from the inner parts of those dwellings in which he had been living with his parents until then, and was often accustomed to see Him in angelic form.
— Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

The land of Nod is so called because it was the land in which Cain wandered about in fear and trembling. But the land also received a second curse when God said, "When you till the earth it shall no longer yield to you its strength."
— Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 3.11.1

After Cain received the punishment and the sign had been added to it … Moses said that "Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden." Cain, therefore, separated himself from his parents and his kin because he saw that they would not intermarry with him.
— Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 3.11.1

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;…
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.,…
Nod — Exile; wandering; unrest, a name given to the country to which Cain fled (Gen. 4:16). It lay on the east of Eden.
Cain · . — .
Curse · .Against — .Against
Eden · 1. The gar — 1. The gar
Genealogy · From Adam to Noah — From Adam to Noah
Murder · Persons guilty of: Flee from God’s presence — Persons guilty of: Flee from God’s presence
Nod · General references — General references

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Genesis 4:16

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 4:16-18

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 4:16

Adam Clarke on Genesis 4:16

John Gill on Genesis 4:16

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Genesis 4:16

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 4:16-18

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 4:16

Adam Clarke on Genesis 4:16

John Gill on Genesis 4:16

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Genesis 4:16

Keil & Delitzsch on Genesis 4:16-24

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Genesis 4:16

Rashi on Genesis 4:16