Cain and Abel

In the biblical Book of Genesis, Cain and Abel are the first two sons of Adam and Eve. Cain, the firstborn, was a farmer, and his brother Abel was a shepherd. The brothers made sacrifices, each from his own fields, to God. God had regard for Abel's offering, but had no regard for Cain's. Cain killed Abel and God judged it murder, cursing Cain and sentencing him to a life of transience. Cain then dwelt in the land of Nod (נוֹד, 'wandering'), where he built a city and fathered the line of descendants beginning with Enoch. Thus, Cain was the first person born, and Abel the first to die. The New Testament Epistle to the Hebrews interprets Abel's sacrifice as more acceptable than Cain's because it was offered in faith, earning Abel the approval of God. In the Qur'an, Cain and Abel are known as Qābīl (Arabic: قابيل) and Hābīl (هابيل), respectively. In Islamic tradition, the story of Cain and Abel portrays Cain as the first murderer driven by jealousy and lust, guided by the devil, and punished with guilt and disgrace, with some scholars debating the identity and motives of the brothers. In the Sethian Apocryphon of John, Cain and Abel are Archons, children of the Demiurge Yaldabaoth, named Yahweh and Elohim but called Cain and Abel to deceive. The story of Cain and Abel is widely interpreted in academic biblical scholarship as a symbolic tale reflecting early agricultural society's tensions—such as those between nomadic herders and settled farmers—and may draw from the older Mesopo