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 sheddeth 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 maketh an atonement for the soul.

Exodus 22:18-20

Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Whoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death. He that sacrificeth to any god, save to the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed.

Deuteronomy 17:8-13

If there shall arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within thy gates: then shalt thou arise, and go up to the place which the LORD thy God shall choose; And thou shalt come to the priests the Levites, and to the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire; and they shall show thee the sentence of judgment: And thou shalt do according to the sentence, which they of that place which the LORD shall choose shall show thee; and thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee:read more.
According to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do: thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall show thee, to the right hand, nor to the left. And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken to the priest that standeth to minister there before the LORD thy God, or to the judge, even that man shall die: and thou shalt remove the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear, and fear, and do no more presumptuously.

Deuteronomy 21:18-21

If a man shall have a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not hearken to them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out to the elders of his city, and to the gate of his place; And they shall say to 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, that he may die: so shalt thou remove evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

Deuteronomy 22:21-27

Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she may die: because she hath wrought folly in Israel, to be guilty of lewdness in her father's house: so shalt thou remove evil from among you. If a man shall 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 shalt thou remove evil from Israel. If a damsel that is a virgin shall be betrothed to a husband, and a man shall find her in the city, and lie with her;read more.
Then ye shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and ye shall stone them with stones that they may die; the damsel, because she cried not, being in the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbor's wife: so thou shalt remove evil from among you. But if a man shall find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man shall force her, and lie with her; then the man only that lay with her shall die: But to the damsel thou shalt do nothing; there is in the damsel no sin worthy of death: for as when a man riseth against his neighbor, and slayeth him, even so is this matter: For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.

Deuteronomy 21:23

His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land may not be defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

Exodus 21:13

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

Deuteronomy 4:41-42

Then Moses set apart three cities on the side of Jordan, towards the sun-rising; That the slayer might flee thither, who should kill his neighbor unawares, and when he had not hated him in times past; and that fleeing to one of these cities he might live:

Deuteronomy 19:2-13

Thou shalt separate three cities for thee in the midst of thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it. Thou shalt prepare thee a way, and divide the limits of thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to inherit, into three parts, that every slayer may flee thither. And this is the case of the slayer, who shall flee thither, that he may live: Whoever killeth his neighbor ignorantly, whom he hated not in time past;read more.
As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand maketh a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and falleth upon his neighbor, that he dieth: he shall flee to one of these cities, and live: Lest the avenger of blood shall pursue the slayer, while his heart is hot, and overtake him, because the way is long, and slay him; whereas he was not worthy of death, inasmuch as he hated him not in time past. Wherefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt separate three cities for thee. And if the LORD thy God shall enlarge thy limits, as he hath sworn to thy fathers, and give thee all the land which he promised to give to thy fathers; If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in his ways; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, besides these three: That innocent blood may not be shed in thy land, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and so blood be upon thee. But if any man shall hate his neighbor, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and smite him mortally, that he dieth, and he shall flee into one of these cities: Then the elders of his city shall send and bring him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. Thy eye shall not pity him, but thou shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may be well with thee.

Joshua 6:17

And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are in it, 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 thou comest nigh to a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace to it. And it shall be, if it shall make thee answer of peace, and open to thee, then it shall be, that all the people that are found therein, shall be tributaries to thee, and they shall serve thee. And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it:read more.
And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thy hands, thou shalt smite every male of 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 of it, shalt thou take to thyself: and thou shalt eat the spoil of thy enemies, which the LORD thy God hath given thee. Thus shalt thou do to all the cities which are very distant from thee, which are not of the cities of these nations.

Leviticus 17:3-7

Whatever man there may be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp, And bringeth it not to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering to the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD; blood shall be imputed to that man; he hath 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 to the LORD, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to the priest, and offer them for peace-offerings to the LORD.read more.
And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savor to the LORD. And they shall no more offer their sacrifices to idols, with which they have committed idolatry: This shall be a statute for ever to them throughout their generations.

Deuteronomy 12:15-16

Notwithstanding, thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatever thy soul desireth, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat of it as of the roebuck, and as of the hart. Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water.

Deuteronomy 22:6-7

If a bird's nest shall chance to be before thee in the way on any tree, or on the ground, whether with young ones, or eggs, and the dam sitting upon the young, or upon the eggs, thou shalt not take the dam with the young: But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee; that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days.

Topics on Killing

Accidental Killings

Joshua 20:1-9

The LORD also spoke to Joshua, saying,

Animals Killing

1 Kings 13:24

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

Famine Killing

Jeremiah 38:2

Thus saith the LORD, He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live.

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 animal, and the fowls of the air; for I repent that I have made them.

God Killing Individuals

Genesis 38:7

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

Killing Brothers

Judges 8:18-19

Then said he to Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor? And they answered, As thou art, 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 first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, to the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle.

Killing Israelites

Esther 3:6

And he scorned to lay hands on Mordecai alone; for they had shown him the people of Mordecai: wherefore 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 to him, How wast thou not afraid to stretch forth thy hand to destroy the LORD'S anointed?

Killing Many People

Ezekiel 9:9

Then said he to me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath forsaken the earth, and the LORD seeth 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 Beth-shittah in Zereroth, and to the border of Abel-meholah, to Tabbath.

Killing Priests

1 Samuel 22:17

And the king said to 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 ye shall keep it 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 information came to David, saying, Absalom hath 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 thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he shall come and smite me, and the mother with the children.

Killing Wild Animals

Nahum 2:13

Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy young lions: and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy 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 them are overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth 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 smote great kings: for his mercy endureth for ever:

Restraints From Killing

Genesis 4:15

And the LORD said to him, Therefore whoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him seven-fold. 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 an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb; and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break his neck: and all the first-born of man among thy children shalt thou redeem.

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