Jeremiah 2:30

2:30 “It did no good for me to punish your people.

They did not respond to such correction.

You slaughtered your prophets

like a voracious lion.” ¹ 

Jeremiah 2:34

2:34 Even your clothes are stained with

the lifeblood of the poor who had not done anything wrong;

you did not catch them breaking into your homes. ² 

Yet, in spite of all these things you have done, ³ 

Jeremiah 7:6

7:6 Stop oppressing foreigners who live in your land, children who have lost their fathers, and women who have lost their husbands. ⁴  Stop killing innocent people ⁵  in this land. Stop paying allegiance to ⁶  other gods. That will only bring about your ruin. ⁷ 

Jeremiah 22:3

22:3 The Lord says, “Do what is just and right. Deliver those who have been robbed from those ⁸  who oppress them. Do not exploit or mistreat foreigners who live in your land, children who have no fathers, or widows. ⁹  Do not kill innocent people ¹⁰  in this land.

Jeremiah 22:17

22:17 But you are always thinking and looking

for ways to increase your wealth by dishonest means.

Your eyes and your heart are set

on killing some innocent person

and committing fraud and oppression. ¹¹ 

Genesis 4:10

4:10 But the Lord said, “What have you done? ¹²  The voice ¹³  of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!

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!” ¹⁴ 

Numbers 35:33

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 19:10

19:10 You must not shed innocent blood ¹⁵  in your land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, for that would make you guilty. ¹⁶ 

Deuteronomy 19:2

19:2 you must set apart for yourselves three cities ¹⁷  in the middle of your land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession.

Deuteronomy 24:4

24:4 her first husband who divorced her is not permitted to remarry ¹⁸  her after she has become ritually impure, for that is offensive to the Lord. ¹⁹  You must not bring guilt on the land ²⁰  which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Proverbs 6:17

6:17 haughty eyes, ²¹  a lying tongue, ²² 

and hands that shed innocent blood, ²³ 

Matthew 23:30-36

23:30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, ²⁴  we would not have participated with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 23:31 By saying this you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 23:32 Fill up then the measure of your ancestors! 23:33 You snakes, you offspring of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? ²⁵ 

23:34 “For this reason I ²⁶  am sending you prophets and wise men and experts in the law, ²⁷  some of whom you will kill and crucify, ²⁸  and some you will flog ²⁹  in your synagogues ³⁰  and pursue from town to town, 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, ³¹  whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 23:36 I tell you the truth, ³²  this generation will be held responsible for all these things! ³³ 

Matthew 26:4

26:4 They ³⁴  planned to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him.

Matthew 26:25

26:25 Then ³⁵  Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” Jesus ³⁶  replied, “You have said it yourself.”

Acts 7:60

7:60 Then he fell ³⁷  to his knees and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” ³⁸  When ³⁹  he had said this, he died. ⁴⁰ 

Acts 7:1

Stephen’s Defense Before the Council

7:1 Then the high priest said, “Are these things true?” ⁴¹ 

Acts 2:15-16

2:15 In spite of what you think, these men are not drunk, ⁴²  for it is only nine o’clock in the morning. ⁴³  2:16 But this is what was spoken about through the prophet Joel: ⁴⁴ 

Revelation 16:6

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

so ⁴⁵  you have given them blood to drink. They got what they deserved!” ⁴⁶ 

[2:30]  ¹ tn Heb “Your sword devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.” However, the reference to the sword in this and many similar idioms is merely idiomatic for death by violent means.

[2:34]  ² tn The words “for example” are implicit and are supplied in the translation for clarification. This is only one example of why their death was not legitimate.

[2:34]  ³ tn KJV and ASV read this line with 2:34. The ASV makes little sense and the KJV again erroneously reads the archaic second person feminine singular perfect as first person common singular. All the modern English versions and commentaries take this line with 2:35.

[7:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “Stop oppressing foreigner, orphan, and widow.”

[7:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “Stop shedding innocent blood.”

[7:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “going/following after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom involved here.

[7:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “going after other gods to your ruin.”

[22:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “from the hand [or power] of.”

[22:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “aliens, orphans, or widows” treating the terms as generic or collective. However, the term “alien” carries faulty connotations and the term “orphan” is not totally appropriate because the Hebrew term does not necessarily mean that both parents have died.

[22:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Do not shed innocent blood.”

[22:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Your eyes and your heart do not exist except for dishonest gain and for innocent blood to shed [it] and for fraud and for oppression to do [them].” The sentence has been broken up to conform more to English style and the significance of “eyes” and “heart” explained before they are introduced into the translation.

[4:10]  ¹² sn What have you done? Again the Lord’s question is rhetorical (see Gen 3:13), condemning Cain for his sin.

[4:10]  ¹³ tn The word “voice” is a personification; the evidence of Abel’s shed blood condemns Cain, just as a human eyewitness would testify in court. For helpful insights, see G. von Rad, Biblical Interpretations in Preaching; and L. Morris, “The Biblical Use of the Term ‘Blood,’” JTS 6 (1955/56): 77-82.

[42:22]  ¹⁴ 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.

[19:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “innocent blood must not be shed.” The Hebrew phrase דָּם נָקִי (dam naqiy) means the blood of a person to whom no culpability or responsibility adheres because what he did was without malice aforethought (HALOT 224 s.v דָּם 4.b).

[19:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and blood will be upon you” (cf. KJV, ASV); NRSV “thereby bringing bloodguilt upon you.”

[19:2]  ¹⁷ sn These three cities, later designated by Joshua, were Kedesh of Galilee, Shechem, and Hebron (Josh 20:7-9).

[24:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to return to take her to be his wife.”

[24:4]  ¹⁹ sn The issue here is not divorce and its grounds per se but prohibition of remarriage to a mate whom one has previously divorced.

[24:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “cause the land to sin” (so KJV, ASV).

[6:17]  ²¹ sn The expression “high/ lofty [רָמוֹת, ramot] eyes” refers to a proud look suggesting arrogant ambition (cf. NCV “a proud look”). The use of “eyes” is a metonymy of adjunct, the look in the eyes accompanying the attitude. This term “high” is used in Num 15:30 for the sin of the “high hand,” i.e., willful rebellion or defiant sin. The usage of “haughty eyes” may be illustrated by its use with the pompous Assyrian invader (Isa 10:12-14) and the proud king of the book of Daniel (11:12). God does not tolerate anyone who thinks so highly of himself and who has such ambition.

[6:17]  ²² tn Heb “a tongue of deception.” The genitive noun functions attributively. The term “tongue” functions as a metonymy. The term is used of false prophets who deceive (Jer 14:14), and of a deceiver who betrays (Ps 109:2). The Lord hates deceptive speech because it is destructive (26:28).

[6:17]  ²³ sn The hands are the instruments of murder (metonymy of cause), and God hates bloodshed. Gen 9:6 prohibited shedding blood because people are the image of God. Even David being a man of blood (in war mostly) was not permitted to build the Temple (1 Chr 22:8). But shedding innocent blood was a greater crime – it usually went with positions of power, such as King Manasseh filling the streets with blood (2 Kgs 21:16), or princes doing it for gain (Ezek 22:27).

[23:30]  ²⁴ tn Grk “fathers” (so also in v. 32).

[23:33]  ²⁵ tn Grk “the judgment of Gehenna.”

[23:34]  ²⁶ tn Grk “behold I am sending.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

[23:34]  ²⁷ tn Or “scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.

[23:34]  ²⁸ sn See the note on crucified in 20:19.

[23:34]  ²⁹ tn BDAG 620 s.v. μαστιγόω 1.a states, “of flogging as a punishment decreed by the synagogue (Dt 25:2f; s. the Mishna Tractate Sanhedrin-Makkoth, edited w. notes by SKrauss ’33) w. acc. of pers. Mt 10:17; 23:34.”

[23:34]  ³⁰ sn See the note on synagogues in 4:23.

[23:35]  ³¹ sn Spelling of this name (Βαραχίου, Baraciou) varies among the English versions: “Barachiah” (RSV, NRSV); “Berechiah” (NASB); “Berachiah” (NIV).

[23:36]  ³² tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[23:36]  ³³ tn Grk “all these things will come on this generation.”

[26:4]  ³⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

[26:25]  ³⁵ tn Grk “answering, Judas.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation. Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to reflect the sequence of events in the narrative.

[26:25]  ³⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:60]  ³⁷ tn Grk “Then falling to his knees he cried out.” The participle θείς (qeis) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[7:60]  ³⁸ sn The remarks Lord Jesus, receive my spirit and Lord, do not hold this sin against them recall statements Jesus made on the cross (Luke 23:34, 46).

[7:60]  ³⁹ tn Grk “And when.” Because of the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences, καί (kai) has not been translated here; a new sentence is begun instead.

[7:60]  ⁴⁰ tn The verb κοιμάω (koimaw) literally means “sleep,” but it is often used in the Bible as a euphemism for the death of a believer.

[7:1]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “If it is so concerning these things” (see BDAG 422 s.v. ἔχω 10.a for this use).

[2:15]  ⁴² tn Grk “These men are not drunk, as you suppose.”

[2:15]  ⁴³ tn Grk “only the third hour.”

[2:16]  ⁴⁴ sn Note how in the quotation that follows all genders, ages, and classes are included. The event is like a hope Moses expressed in Num 11:29.

[16:6]  ⁴⁵ 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]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “They are worthy”; i.e., of this kind of punishment. By extension, “they got what they deserve.”