¹ Give ear to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are in the hill of Samaria, by whom the poor are kept down, and those in need are crushed; who say to their lords, Get out the wine and give us drink.

² The Lord God has taken an oath by his holy name, that the days are coming when they will take you away with hooks, and the rest of you with fish-hooks.

³ And you will go out through the broken places, every one going straight before her, and you will be sent into Harmon, says the Lord.

⁴ Come to Beth-el and do evil; to Gilgal, increasing the number of your sins; Come with your offerings every morning and your tenths every three days:

⁵ Let that which is leavened be burned as a praise-offering, let the news of your free offerings be given out publicly; for this is pleasing to you, O children of Israel, says the Lord.

⁶ But in all your towns I have kept food from your teeth, and in all your places there has been need of bread: and still you have not come back to me, says the Lord.

⁷ And I have kept back the rain from you, when it was still three months before the grain-cutting: I sent rain on one town and kept it back from another: one part was rained on, and the part where there was no rain became a waste.

⁸ So two or three towns went wandering to one town looking for water, and did not get enough: and still you have not come back to me, says the Lord.

⁹ I have sent destruction on your fields by burning and disease: the increase of your gardens and your vine-gardens, your fig-trees and your olive-trees, has been food for worms: and still you have not come back to me, says the Lord.

¹⁰ I have sent disease among you, as it was in Egypt: I have put your young men to the sword, and have taken away your horses; I have made the evil smell from your tents come up to your noses: and still you have not come back to me, says the Lord.

¹¹ And I have sent destruction among you, as when God sent destruction on Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick pulled out of the fire: and still you have not come back to me, says the Lord.

¹² So this is what I will do to you, O Israel: and because I will do this to you, be ready for a meeting with your God, O Israel.

¹³ For see, he who gave form to the mountains and made the wind, giving knowledge of his purpose to man, who makes the morning dark, and is walking on the high places of the earth: the Lord, the God of armies, is his name.

¹ The man knew Eve his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Cain, and said, "I have gotten a man with Yahweh's help."

² Again she gave birth, to Cain's brother Abel. Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

³ As time passed, it happened that Cain brought an offering to Yahweh from the fruit of the ground.

⁴ Abel also brought some of the firstborn of his flock and of its fat. Yahweh respected Abel and his offering,

⁵ but he didn't respect Cain and his offering. Cain was very angry, and the expression on his face fell.

⁶ Yahweh said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why has the expression of your face fallen?

⁷ If you do well, will it not be lifted up? If you don't do well, sin crouches at the door. Its desire is for you, but you are to rule over it."

⁸ Cain said to Abel, his brother, "Let's go into the field." It happened when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and killed him.

⁹ Yahweh said to Cain, "Where is Abel, your brother?" He said, "I don't know. Am I my brother's keeper?"

¹⁰ Yahweh said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries to me from the ground.

¹¹ Now you are cursed because of the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.

¹² From now on, when you till the ground, it won't yield its strength to you. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth."

¹³ Cain said to Yahweh, "My punishment is greater than I can bear.

¹⁴ Behold, you have driven me out this day from the surface of the ground. I will be hidden from your face, and I will be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth. It will happen that whoever finds me will kill me."

¹⁵ Yahweh said to him, "Therefore whoever slays Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold." Yahweh appointed a sign for Cain, lest any finding him should strike him.

¹⁶ Cain went out from Yahweh's presence, and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

¹⁷ Cain knew his wife. She conceived, and gave birth to Enoch. He built a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.

¹⁸ To Enoch was born Irad. Irad became the father of Mehujael. Mehujael became the father of Methushael. Methushael became the father of Lamech.

¹⁹ Lamech took two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

²⁰ Adah gave birth to Jabal, who was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock.

²¹ His brother's name was Jubal, who was the father of all who handle the harp and pipe.

²² Zillah also gave birth to Tubal Cain, the forger of every cutting instrument of brass and iron. Tubal Cain's sister was Naamah.

²³ Lamech said to his wives, "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice. You wives of Lamech, listen to my speech, for I have slain a man for wounding me, a young man for bruising me.

²⁴ If Cain will be avenged seven times, truly Lamech seventy-seven times."

²⁵ Adam knew his wife again. She gave birth to a son, and named him Seth, "for God has appointed me another child instead of Abel, for Cain killed him."

²⁶ There was also born a son to Seth, and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on Yahweh's name.