![[The Murder of Abel]](ncd01550.jpg "38kb jpg detail of 'The Murder of Abel' by Gustav Dore; please do not write to ask about the image")
The first-born of Adam and Eve.
He became a husbandman while his brother Abel tended flocks.
Each offered a sacrifice to God, who accepted that of Abel and rejected that of Cain.
Either Cain offered to God imperfect gifts, or in offering a part of his goods he withheld his heart.
Angered by the Divine rejection, Cain slew his brother; to avenge his blood God pronounced a curse against Cain, banished him to the land of Nod, and marked him with a sign as a promise of special protection in his banishment.
Cain founded a city named Henoch after one of his sons.
New Catholic Dictionary
