As a farmer, Cain ruled the earth. He tore open the ground and filled it up again. Now the earth opens up on its own. Not to receive seed or cuttings from the farmer, but blood shed by the tiller. The blood becomes invisible, but in God’s ears it continues to cry out for retribution. God, the just, cannot let a wrongdoing go unpunished. Where you do not seek reconciliation with Christ, you must bear the curse yourself. God points emphatically to Cain’s own guilt: out of your hand. Realize what you have done.
11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.