A man burdened by bloodguilt will flee into the Pit; let no one support him.
Parallel translations
- WEB A man who is tormented by life blood will be a fugitive until death; no one will support him.
- KJV A man that doeth violence to the blood of any person shall flee to the pit; let no man stay him.
- NKJV A man burdened with bloodshed will flee into a pit; Let no one help him.
- NASB A person who is burdened with the guilt of human blood Will be a fugitive until death; no one is to support him!
- NLT A murderer’s tormented conscience will drive him into the grave. Don’t protect him!
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
A person guilty of bloodshed will live as a haunted fugitive, and none should shield him from justice. It upholds the seriousness of guilt and the demands of justice.
Overview
The proverb describes a murderer fleeing in perpetual torment of conscience, warning that no one should intervene to protect him from deserved justice. It affirms the gravity of shedding innocent blood. Yet the gospel offers what the law alone cannot, for even the guiltiest who repent find refuge and cleansing in the blood of Christ (Hebrews 9:14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Gen 9:6Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.
- Exod 21:14But if a man schemes and acts willfully against his neighbor to kill him, you must take him away from My altar to be put to death.
- 1 Kgs 21:19Tell him that this is what the LORD says: ‘Have you not murdered a man and seized his land?’ Then tell him that this is also what the LORD says: ‘In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, there also the dogs will lick up your blood—yes, yours!’”
- Num 35:14–34Select three cities across the Jordan and three in the land of Canaan as cities of refuge.
- 2 Kgs 9:26‘As surely as I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday, declares the LORD, so will I repay you on this plot of ground, declares the LORD.’ Now then, according to the word of the LORD, pick him up and throw him on the plot of ground.”
- Matt 27:4–5“I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” he said. “What is that to us?” they replied. “You bear the responsibility.”
- 2 Chr 24:21–25But they conspired against Zechariah, and by order of the king, they stoned him in the courtyard of the house of the LORD.
- 1 Kgs 21:23And the LORD also speaks concerning Jezebel: ‘The dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.’
- Acts 28:4When the islanders saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “Surely this man is a murderer. Although he was saved from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 28:17 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.