Wikipedia's first sentence called it “eldest son of adam and eve”. Today it says “figure in the book of genesis within abrahamic religions”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Cain or Káyin ( קַיִן / קָיִן "Possession", Standard Hebrew Qáyin , Tiberian Hebrew Qáyin / Qāyin ; Arabic قابيل Qābīl ) is the eldest son of Adam and Eve , and the first man born in creation according to the Genesis . In the Hebrew language, Cain means "acquisition." He was a tiller of the land while his younger brother Abel was a shepherd. God 's rejection of Cain's sacrifice ( korban in Hebrew) of fruit and grain in preference to Abel's blood sacrifice of a lamb drove Cain to murder his brother in a jealous rage. When God later questioned Cain as to his brother's whereabouts, Cain answered, "Am I my brother's keeper?" God decreed that Cain could no longer till the ground, and that instead he must be a fugitive wanderer. Cain protested that he would be killed by those he encountered, in reply to which God gave Cain a special mark and decreed that any who killed him would suffer vengeance "sevenfold." Cain then settled in the Land of Nod , east of Eden . See Cain and Abel for a fuller story and some exploration of the mythological significance. In popular mythology, although it is unspecified in the Bible, Cain's mark is red hair . He is also thought to have fathered the Biblical races of giants and monsters—the so-called children of Cain .1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 17965357.
The opening as it stood in 2010 8 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Redirect to: Cain and Abel
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 30572049.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Biblical figure This article is about the Biblical figure.Cain is a Biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions .He is the elder brother of Abel , and the firstborn son of Adam and Eve , the first couple within the Bible.He was a farmer who gave an offering of his crops to God .However, God was not pleased and favored Abel's offering over Cain's.Out of jealousy, Cain killed his brother, for which he was punished by God with the curse and mark of Cain .He had several children, starting with Enoch and including Lamech .The narrative is notably unclear on God's reason for rejecting Cain's sacrifice.Some traditional interpretations consider Cain to be the originator of evil, violence, or greed.According to Genesis, Cain was the first human born and the first murderer.There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1174536383.
The opening as it stood in 2025 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Biblical figure This article is about the Biblical figure. Cain is a biblical figure in the Book of Genesis within Abrahamic religions . He is the elder brother of Abel , and the firstborn son of Adam and Eve , the first couple within the Bible. He was a farmer who gave an offering of his crops to God . However, God was not pleased and favored Abel's offering over Cain's. Out of jealousy, Cain killed his brother, for which he was punished by God with the curse and mark of Cain . He had several descendants, starting with his son Enoch and including Lamech . The narrative is notably unclear on God's reason for rejecting Cain's sacrifice. Some traditional interpretations consider Cain to be the originator of evil, violence, or greed. According to Genesis, Cain was the first human born and the first murderer. There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1297234366. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “eldest son of adam and eve”. Today it says “figure in the book of genesis within abrahamic religions”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
eldest son of adam and eve
Now
figure in the book of genesis within abrahamic religions
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
