Genesis 4:16 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Bible Comments

Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. — See Note on Genesis 3:8. Adam and his family probably worshipped with their faces towards the Paradise, and Cain, on migrating from the whole land of Eden, regarded himself as beyond the range of the vision of God. (See Note on Genesis 4:14.)

The land of Nod. — i.e., of wandering. Knobel supposes it was China, but this is too remote. Read without vowels, the word becomes India. All that is certain is that Cain emigrated into Eastern Asia, and as none of Noah’s descendants, in the table of nations in Genesis 10, are described as having travelled eastward, many with Philippson and Knobel regard the Mongol race as the offspring of Cain.

Genesis 4:16

16 And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.