Genesis 9:6
in Genesis 9Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
KJV
Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
⋯
This verse in Genesis 9
Commentary
14 notes on this verseAnd 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.
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, reaching back to Cain and Abel, and Hebrews 12:24 sets Abel's blood under the blood of Jesus, speaking a better word. Verse 7 turns back to the blessing, be fruitful and multiply.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
Indeed, 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.
"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.
Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God have I made man. Hence it is manifest that God, both before the transgression and long after its occurrence, gave to man the same honour and power and …
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 Church1 voice
Whoever sheds human blood, their blood shall be shed. Many have shed human blood, and their blood has not been shed. And others have killed a man with poison or by hanging, and yet when the man is dead, blood is not shed; how then …
7 more voices on this verse
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 man was made in the image of God. Therefore, it is a greater crime to kill an innocent man; because whoever does this not only destroys the work which God made but also corrupts His image.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Wilful murderers must be put to death. This is the sin which is here designed to be restrained by the terror of punishment (1.) God will punish murderers: At the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man, that is, "I will avenge the blood of the murdered upon the murderer." 2 Chron. xxiv.
): Whoso sheddeth man's blood, whether upon a sudden provocation or having premeditated it (for rash anger is heart-murder as well as malice prepense, Matt. v. 21, 22 ), by man shall his blood be shed, that is, by the magistrate, or whoever is appointed or allowed to be the avenger of blood.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood - Hence it appears that whoever kills a man, unless unwittingly, as the Scripture expresses it, shall forfeit his own life. A man is accused of the crime of murder; of this crime he is guilty or he is not: if he be guilty of murder he should die; if not, let him be punished according to the demerit of his crime; but for no offense but murder should he lose his life.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Whoso sheddeth man's blood . . . for in the image of God made he man--It is true that image has been injured by the fall, but it is not lost. In this view, a high value is attached to the life of every man, even the poorest and humblest, and an awful criminality is involved in the destruction of it.
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שֹׁפֵךְ֙ | shofekh | [the] [one who] sheds | H8210 → | 114 times |
| דַּ֣ם | dam | <of> [the] blood of | H1818 → | 360 times |
| הָֽאָדָ֔ם | haadam | <the> humankind | H120 → | 551 times |
| בָּֽאָדָ֖ם | baadam | by <the> humankind | H120 → | 551 times |
| דָּמ֣וֹ | damo | blood his | H1818 → | 360 times |
| יִשָּׁפֵ֑ךְ | yishafekh | <it> will be shed | H8210 → | 114 times |
| כִּ֚י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| בְּצֶ֣לֶם | betzelem | in [the] image of | H6754 → | 17 times |
| אֱלֹהִ֔ים | ʾelohim | God | H430 → | 2601 times |
| עָשָׂ֖ה | ʾasah | he made | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הָאָדָֽם׃ | haadam | <the> humankind | H120 → | 551 times |
שֹׁפֵךְ֙[the] [one who] sheds
shofekhH8210 →114 times
דַּ֣ם<of> [the] blood of
damH1818 →360 times
הָֽאָדָ֔ם<the> humankind
haadamH120 →551 times
בָּֽאָדָ֖םby <the> humankind
baadamH120 →551 times
דָּמ֣וֹblood his
damoH1818 →360 times
יִשָּׁפֵ֑ךְ<it> will be shed
yishafekhH8210 →114 times
כִּ֚יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
בְּצֶ֣לֶםin [the] image of
betzelemH6754 →17 times
אֱלֹהִ֔יםGod
ʾelohimH430 →2601 times
עָשָׂ֖הhe made
ʾasahH6213 →2628 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הָאָדָֽם׃<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
Revelation 13:10“If anyone is destined for captivity, into captivity he will go; if anyone is to die by the sword, by the sword he must be killed.” Here is a call for the perseverance and…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 15:2
If they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: ‘Those destined for death, to death; those destined for the sword, to the sword;…
- Isaiah 33:1
Woe to you, O destroyer never destroyed, O traitor never betrayed! When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you have finished betraying, you will be betrayed.
- Revelation 14:12
Here is a call for the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
- Revelation 3:10
Because you have kept My command to persevere, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the…
- Luke 21:19
By your patient endurance you will gain your souls.
- Jeremiah 15:2
Through
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.
it leads to
- Revelation 13:10
“If anyone is destined for captivity, into captivity he will go; if anyone is to die by the sword, by the sword he must be killed.” Here is a call for the perseverance and…
- Romans 12:19
Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”
- 1 Peter 2:21–23
For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His footsteps:
- Revelation 13:10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies6
About Genesis
This page draws on 11 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); Cosmas Indicopleustes, The Christian Topography, Book 5; 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.