Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.
Parallel translations
- WEB Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image.
- KJV Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
- NKJV “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.
- NASB “Whoever sheds human blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made mankind.
- NLT If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in his own image.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Whoever murders another person forfeits his own life, because every human being bears God's image. This grounds the gravity of murder in human dignity.
Overview
God institutes the principle of capital justice for murder, rooting it not in mere social order but in the truth that humanity is made in God's image. To assault a person is to assault the image of the Creator. The verse anticipates God's commitment to justice and dignity, fulfilled as Christ, the perfect image of God, bears the penalty of death to restore fallen image-bearers.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Lev 24:17And if a man takes the life of anyone else, he must surely be put to death.
- Matt 26:52“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him. “For all who draw the sword will die by the sword.
- Rev 13:10“If anyone is destined for captivity, into captivity he will go; if anyone is to die by the sword, by the sword he must be killed.” Here is a call for the perseverance and faith of the saints.
- Num 35:33Do not pollute the land where you live, for bloodshed pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land on which the blood is shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.
- Exod 21:12–14Whoever strikes and kills a man must surely be put to death.
- Gen 1:26–27Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”
- Jas 3:9With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness.
- Gen 5:1This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in His own likeness.
- 1 Kgs 2:28–34When the news reached Joab, who had conspired with Adonijah but not with Absalom, he fled to the tent of the LORD and took hold of the horns of the altar.
- Rom 13:4For he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not carry the sword in vain. He is God’s servant, an agent of retribution to the wrongdoer.
- Gen 4:14Behold, this day You have driven me from the face of the earth, and from Your face I will be hidden; I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
- Ps 51:4Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge.
- Lev 17:4instead of bringing it to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting to present it as an offering to the LORD before His tabernacle—that man shall incur bloodguilt. He has shed blood and must be cut off from among his people.
- Num 35:25The assembly is to protect the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood. Then the assembly will return him to the city of refuge to which he fled, and he must live there until the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.
- Exod 22:2–3If a thief is caught breaking in and is beaten to death, no one shall be guilty of bloodshed.
- 1 Kgs 2:5–6Moreover, you know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me—what he did to Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether, the two commanders of the armies of Israel. He killed them in peacetime to avenge the blood of war. He stained with the blood of war the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 9:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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