According to the Bible, Cain was the first murderer. In Genesis 4, Cain kills his younger brother Abel after God favors Abel’s offering and does not accept Cain’s offering in the same way.
Cain and Abel are the sons of Adam and Eve. Cain is described as a farmer, while Abel is a shepherd. The story says that jealousy and anger led Cain to attack Abel in the field. When God questioned him, Cain famously responded, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
The biblical account does not describe Cain’s weapon or provide a modern legal classification of the killing; it simply presents the act as the first murder in the human story narrated by Genesis. Cain is punished by becoming a restless wanderer, though God also places a mark on him to prevent others from killing him.
The story has influenced Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions, although details and interpretations differ among those traditions.