Behold, this day You have driven me from the face of the earth, and from Your face I will be hidden; I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
A wicked man writhes in pain all his days; only a few years are reserved for the ruthless. Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him. He despairs of his return from darkness; he is marked for the sword. He wanders about as food for vultures; he knows the day of darkness is at hand. Distress and anguish terrify him, overwhelming him like a king poised to attack.
Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff blown from a threshing floor, like smoke through an open window.
Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways. Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’
Cast me not away from Your presence; take not Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners will return to You. Deliver me from bloodguilt, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness.
Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ... And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Among those nations you will find no repose, not even a resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a despairing soul.
“Not so!” replied the LORD. “If anyone slays Cain, then Cain will be avenged sevenfold.” And the LORD placed a mark on Cain, so that no one who found him would kill him.
And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man: Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.
And I will set My face against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one pursues you. ... As for those of you who survive, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, so that even the sound of a windblown leaf will put them to flight. And they will flee as one flees the sword, and fall when no one pursues them.
Then the Israelites declared to Moses, “Look, we are perishing! We are lost; we are all lost! Anyone who comes near the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Are we all going to perish?”
The avenger of blood is to put the murderer to death; when he finds him, he is to kill him. ... or if in hostility he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must surely be put to death; he is a murderer. When the avenger of blood finds the murderer, he is to kill him. ... and the avenger of blood finds him outside of his city of refuge and kills him, then the avenger will not be guilty of bloodshed
Now the whole clan has risen up against your maidservant and said, ‘Hand over the one who struck down his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of the brother whom he killed. Then we will cut off the heir as well!’ So they would extinguish my one remaining ember by not preserving my husband’s name or posterity on the earth.”
A wicked man writhes in pain all his days; only a few years are reserved for the ruthless. Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him. He despairs of his return from darkness; he is marked for the sword. He wanders about as food for vultures; he knows the day of darkness is at hand. Distress and anguish terrify him, overwhelming him like a king poised to attack.