46 Bible Verses about Killing

Most Relevant Verses

Genesis 9:5-6

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. Whoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

Leviticus 17:11

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul.

Exodus 22:18-20

You shall not allow a witch to live. Whosoever lies with an animal shall surely be put to death. He that sacrifices unto any god, except unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed.

Deuteronomy 17:8-13

If there arise a matter too hard for you in judgment, between bloodsheds, between legal rights, and between assaults, being matters of controversy within your gates: then shall you arise, and get you up into the place which the LORD your God shall choose; And you shall come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall show you the sentence of judgment: And you shall do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall choose shall show you; and you shall observe to do according to all that they inform you:read more.
According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do: you shall not decline from the sentence which they shall show you, to the right hand, nor to the left. And the man that will act presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die: and you shall put away the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear, and fear, and act no more presumptuously.

Deuteronomy 21:18-21

If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.read more.
And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, so that he dies: so shall you put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

Deuteronomy 22:21-27

Then they shall bring out the young woman to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones so that she dies: because she has wrought folly in Israel, to play the harlot in her father's house: so shall you put evil away from among you. If a man be found lying with a woman married to a husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shall you put away evil from Israel. If a young woman that is a virgin be betrothed unto a husband, and a man find her in the city, and lie with her;read more.
Then you shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and you shall stone them with stones so that they die; the young woman, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he has violated his neighbor's wife: so you shall put away evil from among you. But if a man find a betrothed young woman in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die: But unto the young woman you shall do nothing; there is in the young woman no sin worthy of death: for as when a man rises against his neighbor, and slays him, even so is this matter: For he found her in the field, and the betrothed young woman cried, and there was none to save her.

Deuteronomy 21:23

His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that your land be not defiled, which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance.

Exodus 21:13

And if a man lie not in wait, but God delivers him into his hand; then I will appoint you a place where he shall flee.

Deuteronomy 4:41-42

Then Moses set apart three cities on this side of Jordan toward the sun rising; That the slayer might flee there, who should kill his neighbor unintentionally, and hated him not in times past; and that fleeing unto one of these cities he might live:

Deuteronomy 19:2-13

You shall set apart three cities for you in the midst of your land, which the LORD your God gives you to possess it. You shall prepare you a way, and divide the territory of your land, which the LORD your God gives you to inherit, into three parts, that every manslayer may flee there. And this is the case of the manslayer, who shall flee there, that he may live: Whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally, whom he hated not in time past;read more.
As when a man goes into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slips from the handle, and strikes his neighbor, that he dies; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live: Lest the avenger of blood pursue the manslayer, while his anger is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him; whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated the victim not in time past. Therefore I command you, saying, you shall set apart three cities for you. And if the LORD your God enlarges your border, as he has sworn unto your fathers, and gives you all the land which he promised to give unto your fathers; If you shall keep all these commandments to do them, which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to walk always in his ways; then shall you add three more cities for you, besides these three: That innocent blood be not shed in your land, which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance, and so blood be upon you. But if any man hate his neighbor, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and wounds him mortally that he dies, and flees into one of these cities: Then the elders of his city shall send and bring him from there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. Your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.

Joshua 6:17

And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the LORD: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.

Deuteronomy 20:10-15

When you come near unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it makes to you an answer of peace, and opens unto you, then it shall be, that all the people that are found therein shall be subject unto you, and they shall serve you. And if it will make no peace with you, but will make war against you, then you shall besiege it:read more.
And when the LORD your God has delivered it into your hands, you shall strike every male in it with the edge of the sword: But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shall you take unto yourself; and you shall eat the spoil of your enemies, which the LORD your God has given you. Thus shall you do unto all the cities which are very far off from you, which are not of the cities of these nations.

Leviticus 17:3-7

Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, that kills an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that kills it out of the camp, And brings it not unto the door of the tabernacle of meeting, to offer an offering unto the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD; blood shall be imputed unto that man; he has shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people: To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto the LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of meeting, unto the priest, and offer them for peace offerings unto the LORD.read more.
And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and burn the fat for a sweet aroma unto the LORD. And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto demons, after whom they have played the harlot. This shall be a statute forever unto them throughout their generations.

Deuteronomy 12:15-16

Nevertheless you may kill and eat flesh in all your gates, whatsoever your soul desires, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which he has given you: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the gazelle, and as of the hart. Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it upon the earth as water.

Deuteronomy 22:6-7

If a bird's nest happens to be before you in the way in any tree, or on the ground, whether they are young ones, or eggs, and the mother sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young: But you shall surely let the mother go, and take the young for yourself; that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days.

Topics on Killing

Accidental Killings

Joshua 20:1-9

The LORD also spoke unto Joshua, saying,

Animals Killing

1 Kings 13:24

And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him: and his carcass was cast in the way, and the donkey stood by it, the lion also stood by the carcass.

Famine Killing

Jeremiah 38:2

Thus says the LORD, He that remains in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goes forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prize, and shall live.

God Killing

Deuteronomy 32:39

See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god besides me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.

God Killing All People

Genesis 6:7

And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for I am sorry that I have made them.

God Killing Individuals

Genesis 38:7

And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD slew him.

Killing Brothers

Judges 8:18-19

Then said he unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom you slew at Tabor? And they answered, As you are, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king.

Killing Domesticated Animals

Exodus 12:29

And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.

Killing Israelites

Esther 3:6

And he disdained to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had made known to him the people of Mordecai: therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews that were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even the people of Mordecai.

Killing Kings

2 Samuel 1:14

And David said unto him, How were you not afraid to stretch forth your hand to destroy the LORD's anointed?

Killing Many People

Ezekiel 9:9

Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD sees not.

Killing One Another

Judges 7:22

And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man's sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.

Killing Priests

1 Samuel 22:17

And the king said unto the footmen that stood about him, Turn, and slay the priests of the LORD; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled, and did not show it to me. But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the LORD.

Killing Prophets

1 Kings 18:4

For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)

Killing Sacrifices

Exodus 12:6

And you shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

Killing Sons And Daughters

2 Samuel 13:30

And it came to pass, while they were in the way, that tidings came to David, saying, Absalom has slain all the king's sons, and there is not one of them left.

Killing The Innocent

Lamentations 4:13

For the sins of her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests, that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her,

Killing Whole Families

Genesis 32:11

Deliver me, I pray you, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.

Killing Wild Animals

Nahum 2:13

Behold, I am against you, says the LORD of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions: and I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall no more be heard.

Killing Will Happen

2 Samuel 17:9

Behold, he is hid now in some pit, or in some other place: and it will come to pass, when some of the people fall at the first attack, that whosoever hears it will say, There is a slaughter among the people that follow Absalom.

Killing Within Israel

Judges 8:17

And he beat down the tower of Penuel, and slew the men of the city.

Mercy Killings

Psalm 136:17-20

To him who struck great kings: for his mercy endures forever:

Restraints From Killing

Genesis 4:15

And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever slays Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

Rules About Killing Animals

Exodus 13:13

And every firstling of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck: and all the firstborn of man among your children shall you redeem.

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