耶和華對該隱說：「你兄弟亞伯在那裡？」他說：「我不知道！我豈是看守我兄弟的嗎？」耶和華說：「你做了什麼事呢？你兄弟的血有聲音從地裡向我哀告。地開了口，從你手裡接受你兄弟的血。現在你必從這地受咒詛。你種地，地不再給你效力；你必流離飄蕩在地上。」該隱對耶和華說：「我的刑罰太重，過於我所能當的。你如今趕逐我離開這地，以致不見你面；我必流離飄蕩在地上，凡遇見我的必殺我。」耶和華對他說：「凡殺該隱的，必遭報七倍。」耶和華就給該隱立一個記號，免得人遇見他就殺他。

Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?" “I don’t know," he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?"  The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth."  Cain said to the LORD , “My punishment is more than I can bear. Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."  But the LORD said to him, “Not so; if anyone kills Cain, he will suffer vengeance seven times over." Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.

如同起初亞當犯罪後，神主動來找人一樣，神對該隱說：「你兄弟亞伯在那裡？」這不是「疑問句」，乃是「審問句」。神對人所犯的罪，不論是對始祖亞當或對該隱，都是看「人」比「事」來得重要。神不是先問：「做錯了什麼事？」乃是先問：「人在那裡？」所以我們要相信神雖是恨惡「罪」，卻是深愛著「罪人」。

「我豈是看守我兄弟的嗎？」由此可見他對神的怒氣「依然存在」，他對神沒有敬畏的心也是「一如往昔」。難怪神對該隱的懲罰遠比對亞當的還重：因亞當犯罪，地受到咒詛，長出荊棘和蒺藜，增加亞當種地的辛苦；因該隱犯罪，地不再給他效力，他必須自行設法從地裡得吃的。此外，亞當被「驅逐」出伊甸園，到園外的東邊「定居」謀生；該隱卻被「放逐」到更遠的地方，在那裡他「流離飄蕩」，沒有「安居」的住所。