Ezekiel 34:10

34:10 This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand my sheep from their hand. I will no longer let them be shepherds; ¹  the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore. I will rescue my sheep from their mouth, so that they will no longer be food for them.

Genesis 9:5-6

9:5 For your lifeblood ²  I will surely exact punishment, ³  from ⁴  every living creature I will exact punishment. From each person ⁵  I will exact punishment for the life of the individual ⁶  since the man was his relative. ⁷ 

9:6 “Whoever sheds human blood, ⁸ 

by other humans ⁹ 

must his blood be shed;

for in God’s image ¹⁰ 

God ¹¹  has made humankind.”

Genesis 42:22

42:22 Reuben said to them, “Didn’t I say to you, ‘Don’t sin against the boy,’ but you wouldn’t listen? So now we must pay for shedding his blood!” ¹² 

Genesis 42:2

42:2 He then said, “Look, I hear that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us ¹³  so that we may live ¹⁴  and not die.” ¹⁵ 

Genesis 4:11

4:11 So now, you are banished ¹⁶  from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.

Luke 11:50-51

11:50 so that this generation may be held accountable ¹⁷  for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning ¹⁸  of the world, ¹⁹  11:51 from the blood of Abel ²⁰  to the blood of Zechariah, ²¹  who was killed ²²  between the altar and the sanctuary. ²³  Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against ²⁴  this generation.

Acts 20:26-27

20:26 Therefore I declare ²⁵  to you today that I am innocent ²⁶  of the blood of you all. ²⁷  20:27 For I did not hold back from ²⁸  announcing ²⁹  to you the whole purpose ³⁰  of God.

Acts 20:1

Paul Travels Through Macedonia and Greece

20:1 After the disturbance had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging ³¹  them and saying farewell, ³²  he left to go to Macedonia. ³³ 

Acts 5:22

5:22 But the officers ³⁴  who came for them ³⁵  did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, ³⁶ 

[34:10]  ¹ tn Heb “I will cause them to cease from feeding sheep.”

[9:5]  ² tn Again the text uses apposition to clarify what kind of blood is being discussed: “your blood, [that is] for your life.” See C. L. Dewar, “The Biblical Use of the Term ‘Blood,’” JTS 4 (1953): 204-8.

[9:5]  ³ tn The word “punishment” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification. The verb דָּרָשׁ (darash) means “to require, to seek, to ask for, to exact.” Here it means that God will exact punishment for the taking of a life. See R. Mawdsley, “Capital Punishment in Gen. 9:6,” CentBib 18 (1975): 20-25.

[9:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the hand of,” which means “out of the hand of” or “out of the power of” and is nearly identical in sense to the preposition מִן (min) alone.

[9:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “and from the hand of the man.” The article has a generic function, indicating the class, i.e., humankind.

[9:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “of the man.”

[9:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “from the hand of a man, his brother.” The point is that God will require the blood of someone who kills, since the person killed is a relative (“brother”) of the killer. The language reflects Noah’s situation (after the flood everyone would be part of Noah’s extended family), but also supports the concept of the brotherhood of humankind. According to the Genesis account the entire human race descended from Noah.

[9:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “the blood of man.”

[9:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “by man,” a generic term here for other human beings.

[9:6]  ¹⁰ sn See the notes on the words “humankind” and “likeness” in Gen 1:26, as well as J. Barr, “The Image of God in the Book of Genesis – A Study of Terminology,” BJRL 51 (1968/69): 11-26.

[9:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[42:22]  ¹² tn Heb “and also his blood, look, it is required.” God requires compensation, as it were, from those who shed innocent blood (see Gen 9:6). In other words, God exacts punishment for the crime of murder.

[42:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “and buy for us from there.” The word “grain,” the direct object of “buy,” has been supplied for clarity, and the words “from there” have been omitted in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[42:2]  ¹⁴ tn Following the imperatives, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav expresses purpose of result.

[42:2]  ¹⁵ tn The imperfect tense continues the nuance of the verb before it.

[4:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “cursed are you from the ground.” As in Gen 3:14, the word “cursed,” a passive participle from אָרָר (’arar), either means “punished” or “banished,” depending on how one interprets the following preposition. If the preposition is taken as indicating source, then the idea is “cursed (i.e., punished) are you from [i.e., “through the agency of”] the ground” (see v. 12a). If the preposition is taken as separative, then the idea is “cursed and banished from the ground.” In this case the ground rejects Cain’s efforts in such a way that he is banished from the ground and forced to become a fugitive out in the earth (see vv. 12b, 14).

[11:50]  ¹⁷ tn Or “that this generation may be charged with”; or “the blood of all the prophets… may be required from this generation.” This is a warning of judgment. These people are responsible for the shedding of prophetic blood.

[11:50]  ¹⁸ tn Or “foundation.” However, this does not suggest a time to the modern reader.

[11:50]  ¹⁹ tn The order of the clauses in this complicated sentence has been rearranged to simplify it for the modern reader.

[11:51]  ²⁰ sn Gen 4:10 indicates that Abel’s blood cried out for justice.

[11:51]  ²¹ sn It is not clear which Zechariah is meant here. It is probably the person mentioned in 2 Chr 24:20-25.

[11:51]  ²² tn Or “who perished.”

[11:51]  ²³ tn Or “and the temple”; Grk “and the house,” but in this context a reference to the house of God as a place of sanctuary.

[11:51]  ²⁴ tn Or “required from.”

[20:26]  ²⁵ tn Or “testify.”

[20:26]  ²⁶ tn Grk “clean, pure,” thus “guiltless” (BDAG 489 s.v. καθαρός 3.a).

[20:26]  ²⁷ tn That is, “that if any of you should be lost, I am not responsible” (an idiom). According to L&N 33.223, the meaning of the phrase “that I am innocent of the blood of all of you” is “that if any of you should be lost, I am not responsible.” However, due to the length of this phrase and its familiarity to many modern English readers, the translation was kept closer to formal equivalence in this case. The word “you” is not in the Greek text, but is implied; Paul is addressing the Ephesian congregation (in the person of its elders) in both v. 25 and 27.

[20:27]  ²⁸ tn Or “did not avoid.” BDAG 1041 s.v. ὑποστέλλω 2.b has “shrink from, avoid implying fear…οὐ γὰρ ὑπεστειλάμην τοῦ μὴ ἀναγγεῖλαι I did not shrink from proclaiming Ac 20:27”; L&N 13.160 has “to hold oneself back from doing something, with the implication of some fearful concern – ‘to hold back from, to shrink from, to avoid’…‘for I have not held back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God’ Ac 20:27.”

[20:27]  ²⁹ tn Or “proclaiming,” “declaring.”

[20:27]  ³⁰ tn Or “plan.”

[20:1]  ³¹ tn Or “exhorting.”

[20:1]  ³² tn Or “and taking leave of them.”

[20:1]  ³³ sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.

[5:22]  ³⁴ tn The Greek term ὑπηρέτης (Juphreth") generally means “servant,” but in the NT is used for many different types of servants, like attendants to a king, the officers of the Sanhedrin (as here), assistants to magistrates, and (especially in the Gospel of John) Jewish guards in the Jerusalem temple (see L&N 35.20).

[5:22]  ³⁵ tn The words “for them” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

[5:22]  ³⁶ tn Grk “reported, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in English and has not been translated.