Deuteronomy 21:7
in Deuteronomy 21and they shall declare, “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
KJV
And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 21
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
Then all the elders of the city nearest the victim shall wash their hands
on Deuteronomy 21:6-9
The elders wash their hands over the heifer and declare, “Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it”. Psalm 26:6 uses the same picture, and at Matthew 27:24 Pilate washes his hands before the crowd, which Matthew Henry notes was the words without the case. The prayer of verse 8 asks mercy for the whole people, though nobody in that town did the killing.
This site's exposition
nor did our eyes see
The elders give this answer before the priests, who examined them, as Wesley reads it. Henry takes the oath past the shedding of blood itself: the elders declare they knew no killer, hid none and helped none escape. A city that hid a killer shared his guilt.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
They shall answer - To the priests who shall examine them. This blood - This about which the present enquiry is made: or this which is here present: for it is thought the corps of the slain man was brought into the same place where the heifer was slain.
And they shall answer and say,....
6 , I will wash my hands in innocency; but if Pilate had any eye to it ( Matt. xxvii. 24 ) he wretchedly misapplied it when he condemned Christ, knowing him to be innocent, and yet acquitted himself from the guilt of innocent blood. Protestatio non valet contra factum--Protestations are of no avail when contradicted by fact.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְעָנ֖וּ | veanu | and they will answer | H6030 → | 331 times |
| וְאָמְר֑וּ | veameru | and they will say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יָדֵ֗ינוּ | yadeinu | hands our | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| לֹ֤א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| שָֽׁפְכוּ֙ | shafekhah | they shed | H8210 → | 114 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַדָּ֣ם | hadam | the blood | H1818 → | 360 times |
| הַזֶּ֔ה | hazeh | <the> this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| וְעֵינֵ֖ינוּ | veeineinu | and eyes our | H5869 → | 887 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| רָאֽוּ׃ | rau | they saw | H7200 → | 1300 times |
וְעָנ֖וּand they will answer
veanuH6030 →331 times
וְאָמְר֑וּand they will say
veameruH559 →5305 times
יָדֵ֗ינוּhands our
yadeinuH3027 →1618 times
לֹ֤אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
שָֽׁפְכוּ֙they shed
shafekhahH8210 →114 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַדָּ֣םthe blood
hadamH1818 →360 times
הַזֶּ֔ה<the> this
hazehH2088 →1180 times
וְעֵינֵ֖ינוּand eyes our
veeineinuH5869 →887 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
רָאֽוּ׃they saw
rauH7200 →1300 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
2 Samuel 16:8The LORD has paid you back for all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned, and the LORD has delivered the kingdom into the hand of your son…
it leads to
- 2 Samuel 1:16
For David had said to the Amalekite, “Your blood be on your own head because your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I killed the LORD’s anointed.’”
- 1 Kings 2:32–33
The LORD will bring his bloodshed back upon his own head, for without the knowledge of my father David he struck down two men more righteous and better than he when he put to…
- 2 Samuel 3:28–29
Afterward, David heard about this and said, “I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the LORD concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner.
- Judges 9:24
in order that the crime against the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come to justice and their blood be avenged on their brother Abimelech and on the leaders of Shechem, who had helped him…
- Judges 9:56–57
In this way God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech had done to his father in murdering his seventy brothers.
- 2 Samuel 1:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.