Genesis 9:5
in Genesis 9And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man:
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And surely your blood, the blood of your lives, will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it: and at the hand of man, even at the hand of every man’s brother, will I require the life of man.
KJV
And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.
⋯
This verse in Genesis 9
Commentary
12 notes on this verseIndeed, I will require your blood, and the blood of your souls from all beasts, and from the hand of man (Gen. IX, 5). He compared it to bestial malice, or rather even accumulated the wickedness of man beyond the ferocity of beasts, by saying: From the hand of the brother of man. Indeed, beasts have nothing in common with us in nature, and they are not bound by any brotherly right. If they harm humans, they harm them as strangers.
This site's exposition
I will require the life of any man or beast
on Genesis 9:5-7
The ground of the death penalty is that God made mankind in His own image, damaged at the fall and still standing after the flood. The Hebrew behind his fellow man reads a man his brother, and it reaches back to chapter 4, where Cain killed Abel and was marked for protection. Hebrews 12:24 sets the blood of Jesus over Abel's blood, speaking a better word. Verse 7 turns back to the blessing, be fruitful and multiply.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
And He changed the food of men, giving them leave to eat flesh: for from Adam the first-formed until the Flood men ate only of seeds and the fruit of trees, and to eat flesh was not permitted to them.
"Whoever sheds someone's blood, his own will be shed in payment for that person's blood, because I have made the human person in God's image." Consider, I ask you, how much fear he struck in them with that remark. He is saying even if you are not restrained from murderous hands by kinship or by a sense of fellowship of nature, and even if you thrust aside all brotherly feeling and become completely committed to a bloody murder, you must think twice. Consider the fact that the person has been created in God's image. Mark the degree of honor accorded him by God! Think on the fact that he has received authority over all creation. Then you will give up your murderous intent. So what does he mean? If someone has committed countless murders and shed so much blood, how can he give adequate satisfaction simply by the shedding of his own blood? Do not have these thoughts, human being that you are. Instead you do well to consider in advance that you will receive an immortal body that will have the capacity to undergo constant and everlasting punishment.
God requires the blood now and in the future. He requires it now in the case of a death that he decreed for a murderer, and also a stoning with which a goring bull is to be stoned.
The Medieval Church2 voices
Moreover, sacred Scripture, too, testifies to the fact that there will be a resurrection of the body. Indeed, God already had said to Noah after the flood, "Even as the green herbs have I delivered them all to you: saving that flesh with blood of its life you shall not eat. And I will require your blood of your lives, at the hand of every beast I will require it. And at the hand of every man I will require the life of his brother. Whosoever shall shed man's blood, for that blood his blood will be shed: for I made man to the image of God." How can he require the blood of men at the hand of every beast, unless he raises the bodies of those who die? For beasts will not die in the place of human beings.
For I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it and from man, from his fellow man I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed.
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Our lives are not so our own as that we may quit them at our own pleasure, but they are God's and we must resign them at his pleasure; if we in any way hasten our own deaths, we are accountable to God for it.
And surely your blood of your lives will I require,....
Our lives are not so our own as that we may quit them at our own pleasure, but they are God's and we must resign them at his pleasure; if we in any way hasten our own deaths, we are accountable to God for it.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Surely your blood - will I require; at the hand of every beast - This is very obscure, but if taken literally it seems to be an awful warning against cruelty to the brute creation; and from it we may conclude that horse-racers, hare-hunters, bull-baiters, and cock-fighters shall be obliged to give an account to God for every creature they have wantonly destroyed. Instead of חיה chaiyah, “beast,” the Samaritan reads Yod Kaph chai, “living,” any “living creature or person;” this makes a very good sense, and equally forbids cruelty either to men or brutes.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
surely your blood of your lives will I require--The fourth part establishes a new power for protecting life--the institution of the civil magistrate (Ro 13:4), armed with public and official authority to repress the commission of violence and crime.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
18 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאַ֨ךְ | veakh | and nevertheless | H389 → | 161 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| דִּמְכֶ֤ם | dimkhem | blood of your | H1818 → | 360 times |
| לְנַפְשֹֽׁתֵיכֶם֙ | lenafshoteikhem | of lives you | H5315 → | 754 times |
| אֶדְרֹ֔שׁ | ʾedrosh | I will seek | H1875 → | 164 times |
| מִיַּ֥ד | miyad | from [the] hand of | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| חַיָּ֖ה | chaiyah | animal | H2416 → | 498 times |
| אֶדְרְשֶׁ֑נּוּ | ʾedreshenu | I will seek it | H1875 → | 164 times |
| וּמִיַּ֣ד | umiyad | and from [the] hand of | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| הָֽאָדָ֗ם | haadam | <the> humankind | H120 → | 551 times |
| מִיַּד֙ | miyad | from [the] hand of | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| אִ֣ישׁ | ʾish | each | H376 → | 1663 times |
| אָחִ֔יו | ʾachiv | brother his | H251 → | 630 times |
| אֶדְרֹ֖שׁ | ʾedrosh | I will seek | H1875 → | 164 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| נֶ֥פֶשׁ | nefesh | [the] life of | H5315 → | 754 times |
| הָֽאָדָֽם׃ | haadam | <the> humankind | H120 → | 551 times |
וְאַ֨ךְand nevertheless
veakhH389 →161 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
דִּמְכֶ֤םblood of your
dimkhemH1818 →360 times
לְנַפְשֹֽׁתֵיכֶם֙of lives you
lenafshoteikhemH5315 →754 times
אֶדְרֹ֔שׁI will seek
ʾedroshH1875 →164 times
מִיַּ֥דfrom [the] hand of
miyadH3027 →1618 times
כָּל־every
kol-H3605 →5413 times
חַיָּ֖הanimal
chaiyahH2416 →498 times
אֶדְרְשֶׁ֑נּוּI will seek it
ʾedreshenuH1875 →164 times
וּמִיַּ֣דand from [the] hand of
umiyadH3027 →1618 times
הָֽאָדָ֗ם<the> humankind
haadamH120 →551 times
מִיַּד֙from [the] hand of
miyadH3027 →1618 times
אִ֣ישׁeach
ʾishH376 →1663 times
אָחִ֔יוbrother his
ʾachivH251 →630 times
אֶדְרֹ֖שׁI will seek
ʾedroshH1875 →164 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
נֶ֥פֶשׁ[the] life of
nefeshH5315 →754 times
הָֽאָדָֽם׃<the> humankind
haadamH120 →551 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 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
Psalms 9:12For the Avenger of bloodshed remembers; He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.
it leads to
- Psalms 34:6
This poor man called out, and the LORD heard him; He saved him from all his troubles.
- Exodus 3:7
The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings.
- Revelation 16:6
For they have spilled the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink, as they deserve.”
- Revelation 6:9–10
And when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony they had upheld.
- Luke 18:7–8
Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He continue to defer their help?
- Psalms 34:6
Through
Exodus 21:12Whoever strikes and kills a man must surely be put to death.
it leads to
- Genesis 9:6
Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.
- Leviticus 24:17
And if a man takes the life of anyone else, he must surely be put to death.
- Matthew 26:52
“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him. “For all who draw the sword will die by the sword.
- Genesis 9:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies6
About Genesis
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, On Noah and the Ark, 26.94; Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron); Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON GENESIS 6.15.1-2; Irenaeus, The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, Section 22; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 27.15; John Damascene, ORTHODOX FAITH 4.27; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.