Genesis 9:5

9:5 For your lifeblood ¹  I will surely exact punishment, ²  from ³  every living creature I will exact punishment. From each person ⁴  I will exact punishment for the life of the individual ⁵  since the man was his relative. ⁶ 

Genesis 9:2

9:2 Every living creature of the earth and every bird of the sky will be terrified of you. ⁷  Everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea are under your authority. ⁸ 

Genesis 24:4

24:4 You must go instead to my country and to my relatives ⁹  to find ¹⁰  a wife for my son Isaac.”

Isaiah 26:21

26:21 For look, the Lord is coming out of the place where he lives, ¹¹ 

to punish the sin of those who live on the earth.

The earth will display the blood shed on it;

it will no longer cover up its slain. ¹² 

Matthew 23:35

23:35 so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, ¹³  whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

Luke 11:50-51

11:50 so that this generation may be held accountable ¹⁴  for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning ¹⁵  of the world, ¹⁶  11:51 from the blood of Abel ¹⁷  to the blood of Zechariah, ¹⁸  who was killed ¹⁹  between the altar and the sanctuary. ²⁰  Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against ²¹  this generation.

Revelation 6:9-10

6:9 Now ²²  when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been violently killed ²³  because of the word of God and because of the testimony they had given. 6:10 They ²⁴  cried out with a loud voice, ²⁵  “How long, ²⁶  Sovereign Master, ²⁷  holy and true, before you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?”

Revelation 16:6

16:6 because they poured out the blood of your saints and prophets,

so ²⁸  you have given them blood to drink. They got what they deserved!” ²⁹ 

[9:5]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “and from the hand of the man.” The article has a generic function, indicating the class, i.e., humankind.

[9:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “of the man.”

[9:5]  ⁶ 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.

[9:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “and fear of you and dread of you will be upon every living creature of the earth and upon every bird of the sky.” The suffixes on the nouns “fear” and “dread” are objective genitives. The animals will fear humans from this time forward.

[9:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “into your hand are given.” The “hand” signifies power. To say the animals have been given into the hands of humans means humans have been given authority over them.

[24:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “for to my country and my relatives you must go.”

[24:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and take.”

[26:21]  ¹¹ tn Heb “out of his place” (so KJV, ASV).

[26:21]  ¹² sn This implies that rampant bloodshed is one of the reasons for divine judgment. See the note at 24:5.

[23:35]  ¹³ sn Spelling of this name (Βαραχίου, Baraciou) varies among the English versions: “Barachiah” (RSV, NRSV); “Berechiah” (NASB); “Berachiah” (NIV).

[11:50]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Or “foundation.” However, this does not suggest a time to the modern reader.

[11:50]  ¹⁶ tn The order of the clauses in this complicated sentence has been rearranged to simplify it for the modern reader.

[11:51]  ¹⁷ sn Gen 4:10 indicates that Abel’s blood cried out for justice.

[11:51]  ¹⁸ sn It is not clear which Zechariah is meant here. It is probably the person mentioned in 2 Chr 24:20-25.

[11:51]  ¹⁹ tn Or “who perished.”

[11:51]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn Or “required from.”

[6:9]  ²² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the introduction of a new and somewhat different topic after the introduction of the four riders.

[6:9]  ²³ tn Or “murdered.” See the note on the word “butcher” in 6:4.

[6:10]  ²⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[6:10]  ²⁵ tn Grk “voice, saying”; the participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated here.

[6:10]  ²⁶ tn The expression ἕως πότε (ews pote) was translated “how long.” Cf. BDAG 423 s.v. ἕως 1.b.γ.

[6:10]  ²⁷ tn The Greek term here is δεσπότης (despoths; see L&N 37.63).

[16:6]  ²⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate that this judgment is the result of what these wicked people did to the saints and prophets.

[16:6]  ²⁹ tn Grk “They are worthy”; i.e., of this kind of punishment. By extension, “they got what they deserve.”