Genesis 9:5-6

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 

9:6 “Whoever sheds human blood, ⁷ 

by other humans ⁸ 

must his blood be shed;

for in God’s image ⁹ 

God ¹⁰  has made humankind.”

Exodus 20:13

20:13 “You shall not murder. ¹¹ 

Exodus 21:14

21:14 But if a man willfully attacks his neighbor to kill him cunningly, ¹²  you will take him even from my altar that he may die.

Numbers 35:30-33

35:30 “Whoever kills any person, the murderer must be put to death by the testimony ¹³  of witnesses; but one witness cannot ¹⁴  testify against any person to cause him to be put to death. 35:31 Moreover, you must not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death; he must surely be put to death. 35:32 And you must not accept a ransom for anyone who has fled to a town of refuge, to allow him to return home and live on his own land before the death of the high priest. ¹⁵ 

35:33 “You must not pollute the land where you live, for blood defiles the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed there, except by the blood of the person who shed it.

Deuteronomy 21:6-9

21:6 and all the elders of that city nearest the corpse ¹⁶  must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley. ¹⁷  21:7 Then they must proclaim, “Our hands have not spilled this blood, nor have we ¹⁸  witnessed the crime. ¹⁹  21:8 Do not blame ²⁰  your people Israel whom you redeemed, O Lord, and do not hold them accountable for the bloodshed of an innocent person.” ²¹  Then atonement will be made for the bloodshed. 21:9 In this manner you will purge out the guilt of innocent blood from among you, for you must do what is right before ²²  the Lord.

Proverbs 28:17

28:17 The one who is tormented ²³  by the murder ²⁴  of another will flee to the pit; ²⁵ 

let no one support him.

Galatians 5:21

5:21 envying, ²⁶  murder, ²⁷  drunkenness, carousing, ²⁸  and similar things. I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God!

Revelation 21:8

21:8 But to the cowards, unbelievers, detestable persons, murderers, the sexually immoral, and those who practice magic spells, ²⁹  idol worshipers, ³⁰  and all those who lie, their place ³¹  will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. ³²  That ³³  is the second death.”

Revelation 22:15

22:15 Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers ³⁴  and the sexually immoral, and the murderers, and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood! ³⁵ 

[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.

[9:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “the blood of man.”

[9:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “by man,” a generic term here for other human beings.

[9:6]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:13]  ¹¹ tn The verb רָצַח (ratsakh) refers to the premeditated or accidental taking of the life of another human being; it includes any unauthorized killing (it is used for the punishment of a murderer, but that would not be included in the prohibition). This commandment teaches the sanctity of all human life. See J. H. Yoder, “Exodus 20,13: ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill’,” Int 34 (1980): 394-99; and A. Phillips, “Another Look at Murder,” JJS 28 (1977): 105-26.

[21:14]  ¹² tn The word עָרְמָה (’ormah) is problematic. It could mean with prior intent, which would be connected with the word in Prov 8:5, 12 which means “understanding” (or “prudence” – fully aware of the way things are). It could be connected also to an Arabic word for “enemy” which would indicate this was done with malice or evil intentions (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 270). The use here seems parallel to the one in Josh 9:4, an instance involving intentionality and clever deception.

[35:30]  ¹³ tn Heb “ at the mouth of”; the metonymy stresses it is at their report.

[35:30]  ¹⁴ tn The verb should be given the nuance of imperfect of potentiality.

[35:32]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the priest.” The Greek and the Syriac have “high priest.” The present translation, along with many English versions, uses “high priest” as a clarification.

[21:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “slain [one].”

[21:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “wadi,” a seasonal watercourse through a valley.

[21:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “our eyes.” This is a figure of speech known as synecdoche in which the part (the eyes) is put for the whole (the entire person).

[21:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “seen”; the implied object (the crime committed) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[21:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Atone for.”

[21:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “and do not place innocent blood in the midst of your people Israel.”

[21:9]  ²² tn Heb “in the eyes of” (so ASV, NASB, NIV).

[28:17]  ²³ tn The form is the Qal passive participle. The verb means “to oppress; to wrong; to extort”; here the idea of being “oppressed” would refer to the burden of a guilty conscience (hence “tormented”; cf. NAB, NRSV “burdened”). Some commentators have wanted to emend the text to read “suspected,” or “charged with,” or “given to,” etc., but if the motive is religious and not legal, then “oppressed” or “tormented” is preferred.

[28:17]  ²⁴ sn The text has “the blood of a life”; blood will be the metonymy of effect for the murder, the shedding of blood.

[28:17]  ²⁵ tn The verse is cryptic; it simply says that he will “flee to the pit.” Some have taken the “pit” to refer to the place of detention for prisoners, but why would he flee to that place? It seems rather to refer to death. This could mean that (1) since there is no place for him to go outside of the grave, he should flee to the pit (cf. TEV, NLT), or (2) he will be a fugitive until he goes to the grave (cf. NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, CEV). Neither one of these options is easily derived from the text. The verse seems to be saying that the one who is guilty of murder will flee, and no one should assist him. The meaning of “the pit” is unresolved.

[5:21]  ²⁶ tn This term is plural in Greek (as is “murder” and “carousing”), but for clarity these abstract nouns have been translated as singular.

[5:21]  ²⁷ tc ‡ φόνοι (fonoi, “murders”) is absent in such important mss as Ì⁴⁶ א B 33 81 323 945 pc sa, while the majority of mss (A C D F G Ψ 0122 0278 1739 1881 Ï lat) have the word. Although the pedigree of the mss which lack the term is of the highest degree, homoioteleuton may well explain the shorter reading. The preceding word has merely one letter difference, making it quite possible to overlook this term (φθόνοι φόνοι, fqonoi fonoi).

[5:21]  ²⁸ tn Or “revelings,” “orgies” (L&N 88.287).

[21:8]  ²⁹ tn On the term φαρμακεία (farmakeia, “magic spells”) see L&N 53.100: “the use of magic, often involving drugs and the casting of spells upon people – ‘to practice magic, to cast spells upon, to engage in sorcery, magic, sorcery.’ φαρμακεία: ἐν τῇ φαρμακείᾳ σου ἐπλανήθησαν πάντα τὰ ἔθνη ‘with your magic spells you deceived all the peoples (of the world)’ Re 18:23.”

[21:8]  ³⁰ tn Grk “idolaters.”

[21:8]  ³¹ tn Grk “their share.”

[21:8]  ³² tn Traditionally, “brimstone.”

[21:8]  ³³ tn Grk “sulfur, which is.” The relative pronoun has been translated as “that” to indicate its connection to the previous clause. The nearest logical antecedent is “the lake [that burns with fire and sulfur],” although “lake” (λίμνη, limnh) is feminine gender, while the pronoun “which” (ὅ, Jo) is neuter gender. This means that (1) the proper antecedent could be “their place” (Grk “their share,”) agreeing with the relative pronoun in number and gender, or (2) the neuter pronoun still has as its antecedent the feminine noun “lake,” since agreement in gender between pronoun and antecedent was not always maintained, with an explanatory phrase occurring with a neuter pronoun regardless of the case of the antecedent. In favor of the latter explanation is Rev 20:14, where the phrase “the lake of fire” is in apposition to the phrase “the second death.”

[22:15]  ³⁴ tn On the term φάρμακοι (farmakoi) see L&N 53.101.

[22:15]  ³⁵ tn Or “lying,” “deceit.”