This will ensure that the land where you live will not be polluted, for murder pollutes the land. And no sacrifice except the execution of the murderer can purify the land from murder.
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘So you shall not pollute the land in which you are; for blood pollutes the land. No atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed in it, but by the blood of him who shed it.
- KJV So 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.
- BSB Do 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.
- NKJV So you shall not pollute the land where you are; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.
- NASB So you shall not defile the land in which you live; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.
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
Shed blood pollutes the land, and only the blood of the murderer can atone for it. Unpunished bloodguilt defiles the whole nation.
Overview
Murder defiles the land itself, and no atonement is possible except through the just execution of the one who shed innocent blood. This reveals the deep moral pollution that sin and violence bring upon a community and the necessity of righteous judgment. Ultimately the principle that 'without the shedding of blood there is no remission' finds its resolution at the cross, where Christ's blood cleanses what we could never atone for (Hebrews 9:22).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Luke 11:50–51that the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
- Ps 106:38They shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted with blood.
- Ezek 22:24–27“Son of man, tell her, ‘You are a land that is not cleansed, nor rained on in the day of indignation.’
- Matt 23:31–35Therefore you testify to yourselves that you are children of those who killed the prophets.
- Hos 4:2–3There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed.
- Gen 9:6Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image.
- Lev 18:25The land was defiled: therefore I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out her inhabitants.
- Isa 26:21For, behold, Yahweh comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also will disclose her blood, and will no longer cover her slain.
- 2 Kgs 23:26Notwithstanding, Yahweh didn’t turn from the fierceness of his great wrath, with which his anger burned against Judah, because of all the provocation with which Manasseh had provoked him.
- 2 Kgs 24:4and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and Yahweh would not pardon.
- Mic 4:11Now many nations have assembled against you, that say, “Let her be defiled, and let our eye gloat over Zion.”
- Deut 21:23his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him the same day; for he who is hanged is accursed of God; that you don’t defile your land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance.
- Ps 106:28They joined themselves also to Baal Peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.
- Deut 21:1–8If someone is found slain in the land which Yahweh your God gives you to possess, lying in the field, and it isn’t known who has struck him;
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 35:33 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.