Genesis 4 · Verse 14

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 vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.

Genesis 4:14, King James Version

Genesis 4:14 in other translations

BSB	Behold, this day You have driven me from the face of the earth, and from Your face I will be hidden; I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
WEB	Behold, you have driven me out today from the surface of the ground. I will be hidden from your face, and I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. Whoever finds me will kill me.”
ASV	Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the ground; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth; and it will come to pass, that whosoever findeth me will slay me.
YLT	lo, Thou hast driven me to-day from off the face of the ground, and from Thy face I am hid; and I have been a wanderer, even a trembling one, in the earth, and it hath been--every one finding me doth slay me.'
DARBY	Behold, thou hast driven me this day from the face of the ground, and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a wanderer and fugitive on the earth; and it will come to pass, that every one who finds me will slay me.
BBE	You have sent me out this day from the face of the earth and from before your face; I will be a wanderer in flight over the earth, and whoever sees me will put me to death.
Webster	Behold, thou hast driven me this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it will come to pass, that every one that findeth me will slay me.

What does Genesis 4:14 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 4:13-14

13-14. 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.

Read the full comment on Genesis 4:13-14 →

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 14 Behold, thou hast driven me out - In Gen 4:11, Gen 4:12, God states two parts of Cain's punishment: 1. The ground was cursed, so that it was not to yield any adequate recompense for his most careful tillage. 2. He was to be a fugitive and a vagabond having no place in which he could dwell with comfort or security. To these Cain himself adds others. 1. His being hidden from the face of God; which appears to signify his being expelled from that particular place where God had manifested his presence in or contiguous to Paradise, whither our first parents resorted as to an oracle, and where they offered their daily adorations. So in Gen 4:16, it is said, Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and was not permitted any more to associate with the family in acts of religious worship. 2. The continual apprehension of being slain, as all the inhabitants of the earth were at that time of the same family, the parents themselves still alive, and each having a right to kill this murderer of his relative. Add to all this, 3. The terrors of a guilty conscience; his awful apprehension of God's judgments, and of being everlastingly banished from the beatific vision. To this part of the punishment of Cain St. Paul probably alludes, 2Thes 1:9 : Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. The words are so similar that we can scarcely doubt of the allusion.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Genesis 4:8-15

Malice in the heart ends in murder by the hands. Cain slew Abel, his own brother, his own mother's son, whom he ought to have loved; his younger brother, whom he ought to have protected; a good brother, who had never done him any wrong. What fatal effects were these of our first parents' sin, and how must their hearts have been filled with anguish! Observe the pride, unbelief, and impenitence of Cain. He denies the…

Read the full comment on Genesis 4:8-15 →

Genesis 4:14 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

הֵן֩henhere!H2005

גֵּרַ֨שְׁתָּge.Rash.tayou have driven awayH1644

אֹתִ֜י'o.Ti<obj.> meH853

הַיּ֗וֹםhai.Yomthis dayH3117

מֵעַל֙me.'Alfrom onH5921

פְּנֵ֣יpe.Nei[the] surface ofH6440

הָֽאֲדָמָ֔הha.'a.da.Mahthe groundH127

וּמִפָּנֶ֖יךָu.mi.pa.Nei.khaand from before youH6440

אֶסָּתֵ֑ר'e.sa.TerI will be hiddenH5641

וְהָיִ֜יתִיve.ha.Yi.tiand I will beH1961

נָ֤עna'a wandererH5128

וָנָד֙va.Nadand a fugitiveH5110

בָּאָ֔רֶץba.'A.retzon the earthH776

וְהָיָ֥הve.ha.Yahand it will beH1961

כָל\־khol-everyH3605

מֹצְאִ֖יmo.tze.'I[one who] finds meH4672

יַֽהַרְגֵֽנִי\׃Ya.har.Ge.nihe will kill meH2026

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Genesis 4:14

Numbers 35:19
The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer: when he meeteth him, he shall slay him.
Psalms 143:7
Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.
Job 15:20-24
The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor. A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword. He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. …
Proverbs 28:1
The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous are bold as a lion.
Deuteronomy 28:65
And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:
2 Thessalonians 1:9
Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;
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 rebelled against the king of Babylon.
Genesis 9:5-6
And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
Genesis 4:15-16
And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.
Matthew 25:46
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Numbers 35:21
Or in enmity smite him with his hand, that he die: he that smote him shall surely be put to death; for he is a murderer: the revenger of blood shall slay the murderer, when he meeteth him.
Numbers 35:27
And the revenger of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge, and the revenger of blood kill the slayer; he shall not be guilty of blood:

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

driven.
Job 15:20-24; Pr 14:32; 28:1; Isa 8:22; Ho 13:3
from thy.
16; Job 21:14,15; Ps 51:11-14; 143:7; Mt 25:41,46; 2Th 1:9
fugitive.
De 28:65; Ps 109:10
See
12
that.
15; 9:5,6; Le 26:17,36; Nu 17:12,13; 35:19,21,27; 2Sa 14:7
Job 15:20-24; Pr 28:1

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Genesis 4:13
And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear.
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 vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.
Genesis 4:15
And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

Read all of Genesis 4

Genesis 4:14 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	He aquí me echas hoy de la faz de la tierra, y de tu presencia me esconderé; y seré errante y extranjero en la tierra; y sucederá que cualquiera que me hallare, me matará.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Voici, tu m’as chassé aujourd’hui de dessus la face de la terre, et je serai caché de devant ta face, et je serai errant et vagabond sur la terre; et il arrivera que quiconque me trouvera me tuera.
German Elberfelder 1871	Siehe, du hast mich heute von der Fläche des Erdbodens vertrieben, und ich werde verborgen sein vor deinem Angesicht und werde unstet und flüchtig sein auf der Erde; und es wird geschehen: wer irgend mich findet, wird mich erschlagen.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Ecce ejicis me hodie a facie terræ, et a facie tua abscondar, et ero vagus et profugus in terra: omnis igitur qui invenerit me, occidet me.