Scripture · New Testament
1 John 3:12
1 John 3:12 is verse 12 of 1 John chapter 3, shown here in the Berean Standard Bible.
Berean Standard Bible
Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous.
King James Version
Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
World English Bible
unlike Cain, who was of the evil one and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
Read in context
1 John 3:10–14 · Berean Standard Bible
10 By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
11 This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did Cain slay him? Because his own deeds were evil, while those of his brother were righteous.
13 So do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you.
14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love remains in death.
Read all of 1 John 3Greek words
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Cross-references
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge lists these related verses. Scripture text comes from the Berean Standard Bible.
Genesis 4:4while Abel brought the best portions of the firstborn of his flock. And the LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
Genesis 4:5but He had no regard for Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry, and his countenance fell.
Genesis 4:6“Why are you angry,” said the LORD to Cain, “and why has your countenance fallen?
Genesis 4:7If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you refuse to do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires you, but you must master it.”
Genesis 4:8Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
Genesis 4:9And the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I do not know!” he answered. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Genesis 4:10“What have you done?” replied the LORD. “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.
Genesis 4:11Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
Genesis 4:12When you till the ground, it will no longer yield its produce to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”
Genesis 4:13But Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.
Genesis 4:14Behold, 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.”
Genesis 4:15“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.
Genesis 4:25And Adam again had relations with his wife, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another seed in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”
Hebrews 11:4By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous when God gave approval to his gifts. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.
Jude 1:11Woe to them! They have traveled the path of Cain; they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam; they have perished in Korah’s rebellion.
1 John 3:8The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil.
1 John 2:13I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you know the Father.
1 John 2:14I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
Matthew 13:19When anyone hears the message of the kingdom but does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the seed sown along the path.
Matthew 13:38The field is the world, and the good seed represents the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,
1 Samuel 18:14and he continued to prosper in all his ways, because the LORD was with him.
1 Samuel 18:15When Saul saw that David was very successful, he was afraid of him.
1 Samuel 19:4Then Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul and said to him, “The king should not sin against his servant David; he has not sinned against you. In fact, his actions have been highly beneficial to you.
1 Samuel 19:5He took his life in his hands when he struck down the Philistine, and the LORD worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced, so why would you sin against innocent blood by killing David for no reason?”
1 Samuel 22:14Ahimelech answered the king, “Who among all your servants is as faithful as David, the king’s son-in-law, the captain of your bodyguard who is honored in your house?
1 Samuel 22:15Was that day the first time I inquired of God for him? Far be it from me! Let not the king accuse your servant or any of my father’s household, for your servant knew nothing of this whole affair—not in part or in whole.”
1 Samuel 22:16But the king replied, “You will surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s house!”
Psalms 37:12The wicked scheme against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them,
Proverbs 29:27An unjust man is detestable to the righteous, and one whose way is upright is detestable to the wicked.
Matthew 27:23“Why?” asked Pilate. “What evil has He done?” But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify Him!”
John 10:32But Jesus responded, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these do you stone Me?”
John 15:19If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
John 15:20Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well.
John 15:21But they will treat you like this because of My name, since they do not know the One who sent Me.
John 15:22If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.
John 15:23Whoever hates Me hates My Father as well.
John 15:24If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father.
John 15:25But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason.’
John 18:38“What is truth?” Pilate asked. And having said this, he went out again to the Jews and told them, “I find no basis for a charge against Him.
John 18:39But it is your custom that I release to you one prisoner at the Passover. So then, do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”
John 18:40“Not this man,” they shouted, “but Barabbas!” (Now Barabbas was an insurrectionist.)
Acts 7:52Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—
1 Thessalonians 2:14For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Judea that are in Christ Jesus. You suffered from your own countrymen the very things they suffered from the Jews,
1 Peter 4:4Because of this, they consider it strange of you not to plunge with them into the same flood of reckless indiscretion, and they heap abuse on you.
Revelation 17:6I could see that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and witnesses for Jesus. And I was utterly amazed at the sight of her.
Matthew 23:35And so upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
Luke 11:51from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, all of it will be charged to this generation.
Hebrews 12:24to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.