unfoldingWord_en_tn/gen/04/10.md

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What have you done?

God uses a rhetorical question to rebuke Cain. This can be translated as a statement. AT: "What you have done is terrible!" (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-rquestion)

Your brother's blood is calling out to me

Abel's blood is a metonym for his death, as if it were a person calling out for God to punish Cain. AT: "Your brother's blood is like a person calling out to me to punish the person who killed him" (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy)

Now cursed are you from the ground

This can be stated in active form. AT: "I am cursing you so that you will not be able to grow food from the ground" (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-activepassive)

which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood

God speaks of the earth as if it were a person who could drink Abel's blood. AT: "which is soaked with your brother's blood" (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-personification)

from your hand

Here Cain is represented by his "hand," to emphasize that he personally had killed his brother. AT: "that spilled when you killed him" or "from you" (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-synecdoche)

cultivate

This means to do everything necessary to do so that the plants would grow well. See how "cultivate" is translated in Genesis 2:5.

it will not yield to you its strength

The ground is personified as if it were a person who loses strength. AT: "the ground will not produce much food for you" (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-personification)

A fugitive and a wanderer

You can join these words together. AT: "A homeless wanderer" (See: rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-hendiadys)

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