"[2] Noteworthy is the difference in the type of sacrifice: fruits of the soil are renewable and bloodless, while fat portions are set apart for the Lord[3] and taken from the firstborn, pointing to an act of faith, since it is not guaranteed there will be more.

[7] Interpretations extend Cain's curse to his descendants, where they all died in the Great Deluge as retribution for the loss of Abel's potential offspring.

[8] The Pearl of Great Price, a Mormon book of scripture, has been interpreted to depict the descendants of Cain as dark-skinned,[9]: 12  and church president Brigham Young stated, "What is the mark?

You will see it on the countenance of every African you ever did see...."[10][11] However, this position was disavowed by modern leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

[12][13]: 125  Although the scriptures do not mention Ham's skin color, some doctrines associated the curse with black people and used it to justify slavery.

In this viewpoint, articulated by Nachmanides in the thirteenth century, Cain's name presages his role of mastery, power, and sin.

[17] Cain is described as a city-builder,[18] and the forefather of tent-dwelling pastoralists, all lyre and pipe players, and bronze and iron smiths.

[23] This can be seen with Jubilees 4 which narrates that Cain settled down and married his sister Awan, who bore their first son, the first Enoch, approximately 196 years after the creation of Adam.

Cain then establishes the first city, naming it after his son, builds a house, and lives there until it collapses on him, killing him[24] on the same year of Adam's death.

"[26] In Jewish tradition, Philo, Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer, and the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan asserted that Adam was not the father of Cain.

Instead, Eve was subject to adultery, having been seduced by Sammael,[27][28] the serpent[29] (nahash, Hebrew: נחש) in the Garden of Eden,[30] the devil himself.

[22] Christian exegesis of the "evil one" in 1 John 3:10–12 has also led some commentators, such as Tertullian, to agree that Cain was the son of the devil[31] or a fallen angel.

After escaping to the Land of Nod, Cain had four sons: Enoch, Olad, Lizpha, and Fosal, as well as two daughters, Citha and Maac.

[37] The story of Cain and Abel is also referred to in chapter 19 of 1 Meqabyan, a book considered canonical in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church.

[41] According to Rashi, who cites a midrash by Rabanus Maurus, Cain died from an arrow shot by a blindfolded man.

Modern commentators typically assume that the motives were jealousy and anger due to God rejecting Cain's offering, while accepting Abel's.

"Ancient exegetes, such as the Midrash and the Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan, tell that the motive involved a desire for the most beautiful woman.

[47] A millennia-old explanation for Cain being capable of murder is that he may have been the offspring of a fallen angel or Satan himself, rather than being the son of Adam.

An example of this belief can be found in Dante Alighieri's Inferno (XX, 126[48]) where the expression "Cain and the twigs" is used as a kenning for "moon".

The account states that Cain had earnestly sought death but was denied it, and that his mission was to destroy the souls of men.

[50][51] The recollection of Patten's story is quoted in Spencer W. Kimball's The Miracle of Forgiveness, a popular book within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.