The Curse of Cain

In the book of Genesis chapter 4 verses 11-14 we are given a description of God's alleged curse that he put upon Cain as punishment for slaying his brother Abel. This citation is from the New Jerusalem Bible translation of the scriptures:

11 Now be cursed and banned from the ground that has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood at your hands.

12 When you till the ground it will no longer yield up its strength to you. A restless wanderer you will be on earth.'

13 Cain then said to Yahweh, 'My punishment is greater than I can bear.

14 Look, today you drive me from the surface of the earth. I must hide from you, and be a restless wanderer on earth. Why, whoever comes across me will kill me!'

15 'Very well, then,' Yahweh replied, 'whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance.' So Yahweh put a mark on Cain, so that no one coming across him would kill him. Before I get into dissecting and debunking the veracity of this text I would like to point out that the bible does not describe what was the mark that God put upon Cain. The mark of Cain has been written about extensively but quite frankly there is not a man alive who can tell you what that was, and if he is so inclined to do so be aware that anything said or written about the mark of Cain is nothing more than mere speculation. Now let's begin with an analysis of the above mentioned texts and its final conclusions. According to the story when Cain had murdered his brother Abel he was later confronted by the omniscient (all knowing) God. But by reading the text we are given the impression that God did not know that Abel had been murdered yet. So much for omniscience and while we are at it we could add omnipresence (everywhere present) as well, because if he did not know then it also means that he wasn't there either. This is made abundantly clear when God confronts Abel in verses 9 and 10: 9 Yahweh asked Cain, 'Where is your brother Abel?' 'I do not know,' he replied. 'Am I my brother's guardian?' 10 'What have you done?' Yahweh asked. 'Listen! Your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground. Now that that is out of the way let's break down the the curse of Cain as pronounced upon him by God. According to verse 12 there were two specific things that this curse entailed; the first was that he was not going to be able to live off of the land because it would not yield up its crops to him no matter how much he tilled. Secondly, he would be doomed to a life of wandering the earth unable to settle down. After having received his curse Cain states his concern to the Lord that someone would find him and kill him. In response to this God put a mark upon Cain to let anyone know that killing Cain was off limits. Verses 14 and 15 reveal a very important contradiction to the creation story: that there were more people on the earth and that Adam and Eve obviously were not the first. Note that the bible teaches that Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel and doesn't say that they had any more children till later on. Now this is where the bible as it tends to do contradicts itself yet again. If you keep on reading chapter four a few more verses we  are finally told what was the fate of Cain. Verse 16 say's: 16 'Cain left Yahweh's presence and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.' So much for the wandering part of the curse. Not only did Cain settle down in the land of Nod but he also met his wife there! Verse 17 say's he had a son named Enoch there and also founded a city which he named after his son! Not bad for someone who was cursed by God huh? Chapter four goes on to tell us about Cains lineage through his son etc. But before chapter four closes it can't leave without giving us one more contradiction to silence the skeptics regarding how many boys Adam and Eve had. Let's read it together: 25 Adam had intercourse with his wife, and she gave birth to a son whom she named Seth, 'because God has granted me other offspring', she said, 'in place of Abel, since Cain has killed him.' Yeah, you read right. Eve was granted a replacement son in Abel's stead.