9 Bible Verses about Capital Punishment

Most Relevant Verses

Genesis 9:5-6

For your lifeblood I will most certainly require an accounting; from every animal [that kills a person] I will require it. And from man, from every man’s brother [that is, anyone who murders] I will require the life of man.
“Whoever sheds man’s blood [unlawfully],
By man (judicial government) shall his blood be shed,
For in the image of God
He made man.

Genesis 9:5

For your lifeblood I will most certainly require an accounting; from every animal [that kills a person] I will require it. And from man, from every man’s brother [that is, anyone who murders] I will require the life of man.

Leviticus 20:11-14

The man who lies [intimately] with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall most certainly be put to death; their blood is on them. If a man lies [intimately] with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall most certainly be put to death; they have committed incest; their blood is on them. If a man lies [intimately] with a male as if he were a woman, both men have committed a detestable (perverse, unnatural) act; they shall most certainly be put to death; their blood is on them. read more.
It is immoral and shameful if a man marries a woman and her mother; all three shall be burned in fire, so that there will be no immorality among you.

Deuteronomy 22:25

“However, if the man finds the girl who is engaged (legally betrothed) in the [open] field, and seizes her and is intimate with her [by force], then only the man who lies with her shall be put to death.

Deuteronomy 13:1-10

“If a prophet arises among you, or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder which he spoke (foretold) to you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us follow after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve and worship them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and all your soul [your entire being]. read more.
You shall walk after the Lord your God and you shall fear [and worship] Him [with awe-filled reverence and profound respect], and you shall keep His commandments and you shall listen to His voice, and you shall serve Him, and cling to Him. But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to draw you away from the way in which the Lord your God has commanded you to walk. So you shall remove the evil from among you. “If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as [precious to you as] your own life (soul), entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (gods whom neither you nor your fathers have known, of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other), you shall not consent to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare him or conceal him. Instead, you shall most certainly execute him; your hand shall be first [to be raised] against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. So you shall stone him to death with stones, because he has tried to draw you away from the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.

Bible Theasaurus

From Thematic Bible


Punishment » Capital Punishment » For capital offences

Exodus 21:14

But if a man acts intentionally against another and kills him by [design through] treachery, you are to take him from My altar [to which he may have fled for protection], so that he may be put to death.

Deuteronomy 21:21

Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall remove the evil from among you, and all Israel will hear of it and be afraid.

Punishment » Capital Punishment » Delayed

Genesis 15:16

Then in the fourth generation your descendants shall return here [to Canaan, the land of promise], for the wickedness and guilt of the Amorites is not yet complete (finished).”

Isaiah 48:9


“For the sake of My Name I refrain from My wrath,
And for My praise I restrain Myself from you,
So that I do not cut you off.

1 Peter 3:20

who once were disobedient, when the great patience of God was waiting in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons [Noah’s family], were brought safely through the water.

1 Kings 21:29

“Do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the evil (catastrophe) in his lifetime, but in his son’s days I will bring evil upon his house.”

1 Kings 11:12

However, I will not do it in your lifetime, for the sake of your father David, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son (Rehoboam).

Punishment » Capital Punishment » Examples of the infliction of

Numbers 16:32

and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all the men who supported Korah, with all their possessions.

Leviticus 10:2

And fire came out from the presence of the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.

Joshua 7:25

Joshua said, “Why have you brought disaster on us? The Lord will bring you disaster this day.” Then all Israel stoned them [to death] with stones; afterward they burned their bodies in the fire.

2 Chronicles 23:15

So they seized Athaliah, and when she arrived at the entrance of the Horse Gate of the king’s house (palace), they put her to death there.

Punishment » Capital Punishment » Of children

Never miss a post