“now you are cursed.” People who make the Devil their god and become children of the Devil are cursed just as the Devil himself is. Genesis 4:11-12 reveals some of the terrible consequences that those who choose to become children of the Devil suffer in this life. For one thing, Cain and subsequently all children of the Devil, are cursed when it comes to the ground. This is explained in Genesis 4:12: the ground will not produce good crops for them. We see this truth played out in the life of Cain because he started out as a tiller of the soil (Gen. 4:2), but after becoming a child of the Devil the soil would no longer produce abundantly for him, which is why he built a city (Gen. 4:17). Godly men can live off the soil, but children of the Devil have to live off the production of others. It is no coincidence that Cain was the first city builder. Nimrod, a mighty hunter against God and whose very name means “Rebel,” was the second city builder (Gen. 10:9-12). Big cities have always been known for being centers of human depravity.

Another thing revealed in Genesis 4:12 about the children of the Devil is that they cannot be “at home” on the earth because they are by nature unsatisfied. They wander, sometimes from place to place, or from job to job, or from activity to activity, or from what they have to wanting more and more. Sadly, they also usually wander from victim to victim as they prey on others. Proverbs 4:14-16 says that the wicked cannot even sleep unless they are doing evil and hurting others.

“the ground that opened its mouth.” The ground here is personified.

[For more on the figure of speech personification, see commentary on Proverbs 1:20].