Genesis 4:16

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

The withdrawal of Cain from his home area meant particularly his removal from the visible presence of God, apparently still existing at that time in the Cherubim and the sword. It did not mean that he was beyond the perimeter of God's knowledge and watchfulness over all the affairs of men.

"Nod ..." The geographical location of this place is not known. The word means "wandering," and is apparently derived from the nomadic and fugitive life to which Cain was condemned.

We may not suppose that Cain's punishment did him any good at all; Josephus relates the old Jewish tradition that:

"He augmented his substance with rapine and violence. He excited men to procure pleasures and spoils by robbery ... His posterity became exceedingly wicked; he was bold in his profligate behavior, in acting unjustly, and doing injuries for gain."[21]

Here is the beginning of God's record of how the frightfully wicked generation prior to the Deluge came into existence.