Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
Parallel translations
- WEB Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image.
- BSB Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.
- 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 he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death.
- Matt 26:52Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
- Rev 13:10He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
- Num 35:33So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.
- Exod 21:12–14He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.
- Gen 1:26–27And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
- Jas 3:9Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
- Gen 5:1This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;
- 1 Kgs 2:28–34Then tidings came to Joab: for Joab had turned after Adonijah, though he turned not after Absalom. And Joab fled unto the tabernacle of the LORD, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.
- Rom 13:4For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
- Gen 4:14Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me.
- Ps 51:4Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
- Lev 17:4And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering unto the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD; blood shall be imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people:
- Num 35:25And the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge, whither he was fled: and he shall abide in it unto the death of the high priest, which was anointed with the holy oil.
- Exod 22:2–3If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him.
- 1 Kgs 2:5–6Moreover thou knowest also what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, and what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, unto Abner the son of Ner, and unto Amasa the son of Jether, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were 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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