Mark of Cain (Genesis 4:15)

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The Bible has been the most influential text in all of Western culture. It's difficult to understand medieval or early modern or much of modern literature without knowing it...

Prof. Barbara Newman, Northwestern University
from 2006 Bible Literary project

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It's not that it's impossible to read some writers without a Biblical background, but that you would miss a whole dimension to their work.

Prof. Steven Goldsmith, University of California at Berkeley
from 2006 Bible Literary Project

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I can only say that if a student doesn't know any Bible literature, he or she will simply not understand whole elements of Shakespeare, Sidney, Spenser, Milton, Pope, Wordsworth

Prof. Robert Kiely, Harvard University
from 2006 Bible Literary Project

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...there is truth in the remark. "without Tyndale[Bible translator], no Shakespeare"...

Prof. David Daniell, University College London
from The Bible in English

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You can't really study Western literature intelligently or coherently without starting with the Bible.

Prof. Gerald L. Bruns, University of Notre Dame
from 2006 Bible Literary Project

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...a familiar understanding of Christian doctrine in historical perspective thus contributes to a fuller appreciation of Shakespeare's art, but Shakespeare's art

Prof. Roland M. Frye
from Shakespeare and the Christian Doctrine

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In English tradition and also for an American tradition begun by Puritan writers, a knowledge of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament is even more crucial than classical references.

Prof. Ulrich Knoefplmacher, Princeton University
from 2006 Bible Literary Project

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There is no book more important for our culture than the Bible, and it is fundametal to the study of English literature and language.

Prof. David Jasper and Prof. Stephen Prickett
from the Bible and literature

Mark of Cain (Genesis 4:15)

Picture description: Cain
Picture copyright: V.

bible verse

Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. (Genesis 4:15)

meaning

A mark of Cain now comes to mean a person’s guilt or shame.

origin and application

Cain, the firstborn son of Eve and Adam, murdered his younger brother Abel. This is the first account of murder in the Bible. Later, Abel’s blood cried out to God from the ground. God heard his cries and put a curse on Cain as a punishment – “When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.” (Genesis 4:15)
Cain was very worried that he would be killed by others who find him. So God put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.

example

I have the mark of Cain on my forehead.

Keywords

Abel Cain guilt mark shame

Related Information

NIV official site
Chinese Bible (???)

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Mark of Cain (Genesis 4:15)

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