Land of Nod

For other uses, see Land of Nod (disambiguation).

Fernand-Anne Piestre Cormon's painting titled Cain flying before Jehovah's Curse, c. 1880, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

The Land of Nod (Hebrew: eretz-Nod‎, ארץ נוד) is a place in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible, located "on the east of Eden" (qidmat-‘Eden), where Cain was exiled by the Lord God after Cain had murdered his brother Abel. According to Genesis 4:16:

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

"Nod" (נוד) is the Hebrew root of the verb "to wander" (לנדוד). Genesis 4:17 relates that after arriving in the Land of Nod, Cain's wife bore him a son, Enoch, in whose name he built the first city.

Places named "Land of Nod"

Land of Nod is the name of a small hamlet in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It is located at the far end of a two-mile-long road which joins the A614 road at Holme-on-Spalding-Moor.

Popular culture references

One of American writer John Steinbeck's most famous novels is East of Eden. The betrayal of a brother is one of its central themes.

The Land of Nod also refers to the mythical land of sleep, a pun on Land of Nod (Gen. 4:16). To “go off to the land of Nod” plays with the phrase to “nod off”, meaning to go to sleep. The first recorded use of the phrase to mean "sleep" comes from Jonathan Swift in his Complete Collection of Polite and Ingenious Conversation (1737) and Gulliver's Travels. A later instance of this usage appears in the poem The Land of Nod by Robert Louis Stevenson from the A Child's Garden of Verses and Underwoods[1](1885) collection.

In The Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes book, The Land of Nod is a pun on the mythical land of sleep, or The Dreaming, Cain's destination after murdering his brother.

In Bad Monkeys, a psychological thriller by Matt Ruff, the main character frequently refers to apparent contradictions in her back story as "Nod problems."

The Land of Nod Trilogy is a series of books by author Gary Hoover. The first book in the trilogy ( Land of Nod, The Artifact ) was published by Fantasy Island Book Publishing in 2011.

In games

In the World of Darkness role-playing setting by White Wolf Game Studio, the land of Nod is the home in exile of Caine, the first vampire. God's curse upon Caine is interpreted as transforming him and his line into vampires.

The biblical quote is mentioned in the Command & Conquer video game, and is thought to be the origin of the name for the Brotherhood of Nod, as the group's charismatic leader is also known only as Kane. Kane's command center, known as the Temple of Nod, also houses a coffin bearing the name Abel upon its surface, and the preserved body of his most trusted officer, Seth (in reference to the biblical Seth), whom Kane shot in the head after Seth's attempted coup d'état. Their relationship is never explained; however, upon introducing himself to the player, Seth states that he is "Seth. Just Seth. From God, to Kane, to Seth."

In music

Twelfth Night a symphonic progressive rockband with Geoff Mann made an album in 1981 called "Smiling At Grief", including the song called "East of Eden". A second version was recorded in 1982 on the album "Fact And Fiction".

Billy Thorpe closed his album "Children of the Sun ... Revisited" with the song "East of Eden's Gate."

Canadian indie band Stars mentions the Land of Nod in the title track to their album "The Comeback EP": "Just got back from the land of Nod..."

Classic rock band Journey mentions the east of Eden in their song "Frontiers" from their 1983 Frontiers: "And all the heroes have gone east of Eden, we all need new frontiers."

Tom Waits mentions the land of Nod in his song "Singapore" from the 1985 album Rain Dogs: "We sail tonight for Singapore, we're all as mad as hatters here I've fallen for a tawny Moor, took off to the land of Nod..."

Bob Dylan's song "Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum" from the 2001 album Love and Theft refers to those "Livin' in the Land of Nod, Trustin' their fate to the hands of God".

The gothic rock band To/Die/For sings about the Land of Nod in the song "Vale of Tears", in the verse "Sleep well my darling, and leave this vale of tears behind. Land of Nod is a better place".

English rocker Pete Doherty uses "East of Eden" as the title for a song he wrote for his band Babyshambles. The opening lyric to the song states "I've been wandering East of Eden"

Musician/cartoonist Sean Hartter refers to "Nod" as a place with his "The Man From Nod" electronic/live music project. Here "Nod" is meant to be a wilderness of jumbled ideas and disjointed notions, the opposite of Eden...much more like the state of a dreaming mind.

The heavy stoner metal band High On Fire included a song called "Return To Nod" on their album Death Is This Communion.

The darkwave band The Crüxshadows refer to Nod in their song called "East" from the 2003 album Ethernaut with the repetitive phrase "East of Eden".

The German rock group Unloved uses the phrase "heading nod" in the corresponding song from the 2006 album "Killersongs" as a metaphor for dealing with unpardonable guilt. Nod becomes not a certain land but a state of self-forgiveness ("It only remains for me to leave, a ridiculous 'sorry' on my lips. it only remains for me to live, telling, I didn't mean it").

Dave Matthews made popular a song written by Daniel Lanois called "The Maker". In it is a reference to the Land of Nod otherwise called East of Eden: "Brother John, have you seen the homeless daughters standing here with broken wings. I have seen the flaming swords there over east of Eden".

British Rap group Rhyme Asylum briefly make a reference to this land, "Vanish you to the Land of Nod, close friends turn into snakes like Aaron's rod".

There is a Psychedelic Folk Rock band from Providence, RI called "Allysen Callery & the Land of Nod", that took the title from Robert Lewis Stevenson's poem by the same name.

East of Eden was a British rock band from the 1960s/1970's.

Classic Rock group, The Eagles, titled their latest album "East of Eden"

Natalie Merchant sings "The Land of Nod", based on the Robert Louis Stevenson poem, on her album "Leave Your Sleep."

American rock band Sabertooth Zombie recorded the song "Old Fools" which lyrically references the Land of Nod: "One nation, under God, in the Land of Nod."

American hardcore punk act Trash Talk released a single titled East of Eden in 2009].

Scottish rock band, Big Country includes a song, "East of Eden," on their album titled, Steeltown.

Rapper Ikon the Verbal Hologram refers to the land of nod in the song "Books Of Blood: The coming of the Tan. In the line You have entered the Land Of Nod now, face the deafening thunders And the spiritual wonders.

On their freshman album, the English electronic band Is Tropical entitles one of their songs "Land of The Nod"

TAB (Trey Anastasio Band) debuted a new song titled "The Land of Nod", a funky piece that breaks into a chorus of "I was asleep for so long..". The song appears on Trey's 2012 album Traveler.

A song by the Dutch metal band Faces of Cain is titled "Dweller in the Land of Nod."

Other uses

In the United Kingdom and some parts of the United States, the phrase "to go off to the land of Nod" refers colloquially to falling asleep.^{[citation needed]}

In the comic book, The Strange Talent of Luther Strode while not directly said to be it, the land of Nod is shown. The story takes place in modern day, Cain is still alive and completely bound head to toe to a wall with four other men. A man simply known as The Librarian, is shown coming from the Land of Nod after speaking with Cain about Luther.

External links

• Genesis 4:16 at BibleGateway.com
• Roald Dahl