Midrash sobre Gênesis 4:9

(Deut. 11:26:) “See, I [am setting before you today a blessing and a curse]. This text is related (to Jer. 21:8), “And (to) [unto] this people you shall say, ‘Thus says the Lord, “See, I am setting before you the road of life and the road of death.”’” It is also written (in Ps. 78:1), “A maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my Torah […].” And it is written (in Deut. 4:9-10), “Only take heed to yourself and watch [yourself closely, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; make them known to your children and to your children's children]: The day that you stood [before the Lord your God at Horeb]….” [This is] to tell you that [when] anyone despises the words of Torah, it is as though he were denying the Holy One, blessed be He,, because He only bestowed Torah so that Israel would be occupied with it day and night, as stated (in Josh. 1:8), “and you shall meditate on it (i.e., on the Torah) day and night.” And it is written (in Ps. 1:2), “But their delight is in the law (Torah) of the Lord, [and on his law (Torah) they meditate day and night].” And when anyone occupies himself with the Torah and fulfills it, [it is] as though he had received it from Sinai. It is therefore written (in Deut. 4:9), “make them known to your children […],” and adjacent to it (in Deut. 4:10), “The day that you stood before the Lord your God….” When Asaph came, he began to say (in Ps. 78:1) “Give ear, O my people, to my Torah.” So also did Solomon say (in Prov. 4:2), “For I gave you good instruction; [do not abandon my Torah].” Israel said to Asaph, “Is there another Torah, such that you say (in Ps. 78:1), ‘Give ear, O my people, to my Torah?’ We have already received it from Mount Sinai.” He said to them, “The sinners of Israel say that the Prophets and the Writings are not Torah, and they do not believe in them, as stated (in Dan. 9:10), “And we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in His Torah, which He set before us at the hand of His servants the prophets.” Ergo, the Prophets and the Writings are Torah. As so is it stated (in Ps. 78:1), “Give ear, O my people, to my Torah (in this case to a writing of Asaph).” Another interpretation (of Ps. 78:1), “Give ear, O my people, to my Torah.” This text is related (to Prov. 16:23), “The heart of a wise person, instructs his mouth […].” When Israel sins, they are withheld from anything good; and so you find that, when they committed the act (of the golden calf), everything good was withheld from them, as stated (in Exod. 32:19), “And it came to pass that as soon as he drew near unto the camp and saw the calf [and the dancing, Moses burned with anger; so he threw down the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain].” Then when Moses sought mercy for them, the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “Moses, I created the world only for Torah, as stated (in Is. 51:16), “Moreover, I have put My words (i.e., the Torah) in your mouth …, [so that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth].” But they have exchanged My glory for the image of a bull,¹Cf. Ps. 106:20. and you have broken the tablets; so how will the world continue without Torah? He said to Him, “What shall I do?” He said to him (in Deut. 10:1), “Carve out two tablets of stone like the first ones.” It is therefore said (in Prov. 16:23), “The heart of a wise person, instructs his mouth….” For that reason, when Asaph [was alive], he mentioned above (in Ps. 77:21), “You led Your people like a flock [by the hand of Moses and Aaron].”²It is Ps. 77:1 that designates this Psalm as a work of Asaph. Then after that it is written (in Ps. 78:1), “A maskil (a psalm of wisdom) of Asaph.”

And the Lord knew what Cain had done unto his brother and the Lord appeared unto Cain and ‎said unto him: Where is thy brother Abel who was with thee? But Cain denied all knowledge of ‎Abel and said: I know not; am I my brother's keeper? And the Lord said unto him: What hast ‎thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground; thou hast killed ‎thy brother and hast denied it to me, thinking in thine heart that I have not seen thee, and ‎that I would not know all the deeds that thou hast done.‎ And now that thou hast killed thy brother, simply because he told unto thee the truth, be thou ‎therefore cursed from the earth which hath opened her mouth to receive the blood of thy ‎brother from thy hand, and because thou hast buried him in her.‎ And when thou tillest the ground it shall not henceforth yield unto thee its strength as ‎heretofore, but it shall bring forth unto thee thorns and thistles also. A fugitive and a vagabond ‎shalt thou be in the earth until the day of thy death.‎ And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord from the place that was his home, and he ‎wandered around a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth eastward of Eden, he and all that ‎were his.‎ And Cain knew his wife at that time and she conceived and bare a son, and he called his name ‎Enoch, saying: In those days the Lord began to give me peace and rest in the land. At the same ‎time Cain began building a city and when the city was built he called her name Enoch, after the ‎name of his son; for the Lord had given him rest upon the earth in those days, and he did not ‎live any more like a fugitive and a vagabond as theretofore.‎ And unto Enoch was born Irad; and Irad begat Mehujael; and Mehujael begat Methusael; and ‎Methusael begat Lamech.‎ And it was in the one hundred and thirtieth year of the life of Adam upon the earth, that Adam ‎knew Eve his wife and she conceived and bare a son in his image and likeness, and called his ‎name Seth saying: God hath appointed unto me another offspring instead of Abel whom Cain ‎hath killed.‎ And Seth lived one hundred and five years and he begat a on.‎ And Seth called the name of his son Enos, saying: At that time the sons of man began to ‎multiply upon the face of the earth and to injure their hearts and souls by rebelling and ‎transgressing against the Lord.‎ And it was in the days of Enos that the sons of man continued the more so to rebel and ‎transgress against the Lord, and to increase the burning anger of the Lord against the sons of ‎man. For the sons of man went and served other gods, and forgot the Lord who created them ‎upon the earth.‎ And the sons of man of those days, made unto themselves images of iron and of copper, and ‎of wood and of stone, and bowed down before them, and served them.‎ And every man made his own god and bowed down before it, and the sons of man forsook ‎the Lord through all the days of Enos and his sons.‎

After killing Abel, he said to himself: “I must flee from my mother and father, for they will ask me where he is, since there are only the two of us.” The Holy One, blessed be He, appeared before him immediately, saying: “You can flee from your parents but not from Me, as it is said: Can any man hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? (Jer. 23:24).” The Holy One asked: Where is Abel, your brother? (Gen. 4:9), and then He continued: “Woe unto him who was merciful to you and refrained from killing you when you were beneath him. When he permitted you to rise, you killed him!”