Cain's Exile Land Made as a Second Garden of Eden

Midrash Aggadah Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Genesis 4:16 View source

Curated by The Jewish Mythology Team · Published January 3, 2025

The Torah says Cain went to dwell in "the land of Nod." Nod in Hebrew means "wandering," and Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on (Genesis 4:16) translates it plainly: "the land of the wandering of his exile."

But then the Targumist adds something striking. This land "had been made for him from before, as the garden of Eden."

Cain's place of exile was not a wasteland. It was, in some sense, a second Eden — prepared for him in advance. God did not drive him out into nothing. There was a garden waiting, prepared from before creation for exactly this. The mercy is quiet but real. Even the man who denied the Judge is given a home by the Judge he denied.

Themes

Exile Eden Repentance Divine justice

Biblical References

Genesis 4:16

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