Cain

• Jubilees 4:31

Killed when his house fell on him.

• Genesis 4:1-17

Basic story of Cain.

• Moses 5:16-42

The story of Cain. (Joseph Smith Translation of the Genesis account. More detail available.)

• Enoch 22:7

Abel, in the spirit world, cries out against Cain, who slew him.

• The Book of Jasher 1:12-35

The story of Cain and Abel. Contains some interesting features. Cain's sacrifices are rejected (fail to be consumed by fire from heaven) because he gives the poorer pieces to the Lord. Cain then seeks an excuse to kill Abel. The actual event occurs as a dispute over Abel grazing his flocks on Cain's fields. Abel was doing this intentionally it seems because Cain had been stealing his sheep.

• Philo, "On the Cherubim" (De Cherubim), Part 2

Philo tells of Cain and Abel's birth, focusing on Cain's birth, and gives some detailed exegesis of themes this suggests.

• Philo, "On the Birth of Abel and the Sacrifices Offered by Him and by His Brother Cain" (De Sacrificiis Abelis et Cain)

Philo tells of Cain and Abel's birth, focusing on Abel's birth, and gives some detailed exegesis of themes this suggests.

Describes that Cain's name means "possession"

• The Zohar, Volume 1

Cain's name is associated with the Hebrew word for "nest" (Q-N).

• The Works of Josephus, The Antiquities of the Jews, Ch. 2

He gives Cain's name to mean "possession".

Notes

Name Meanings

Gotten

The most common family of meanings for the name, Cain, by far, are those associated with kana (קנה‎ q-n-h), having the meaning, "to get". Thus he is associated with getting, possession, ownership, and such. (eg. Josephus and Philo both take this perspective.) This interpretation has some very old and very modern proponents. It fits nicely with Eve's pronouncement that she had gotten a man from the Lord, and it fits a narrative interpretation of the story of Cain and Able which makes it out to be a dramatization of the old and ongoing conflict between settler and nomad. Cain even founds the first city within the context of the story.

Nest

The gnostics, reportedly associated Cain with the sun. The Zohar associates his name with "nest" (q-n). I don't think much of this interpretation at all, really. Perhaps something could be said for how a nest is a settlement, of sorts, and hence, there is some synergy with the "gotten" interpretation of the name.

Spear

In the Hebrew Bible, it appears that q-y-n are the Hebrew letters used for Cain's name. This set of letters gives Cain's name meanings such as "spear" or "a smith". With this name it is possible that the intended imagery of his name is phallic, and hence, it would be the "man" part of Eve's pronunciation that would be emphasized. Perhaps there is more symbolism to the spear than I am aware of.

Cross-References

• Abel
• Adam
• Eve