'Kill' in the Bible

Since You are banishing me today from the soil, and I must hide myself from Your presence and become a restless wanderer on the earth, whoever finds me will kill me.”

Then the Lord replied to him, “In that case, whoever kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” And He placed a mark on Cain so that whoever found him would not kill him.

When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ They will kill me but let you live.

You could not possibly do such a thing: to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. You could not possibly do that! Won’t the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”

Abraham replied, “I thought, ‘There is absolutely no fear of God in this place. They will kill me because of my wife.’

When the men of the place asked about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he was afraid to say “my wife,” thinking, “The men of the place will kill me on account of Rebekah, for she is a beautiful woman.”

Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau determined in his heart: “The days of mourning for my father are approaching; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

When the words of her older son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she summoned her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Listen, your brother Esau is consoling himself by planning to kill you.

They saw him in the distance, and before he had reached them, they plotted to kill him.

Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”

Then Judah said to his brothers, “What do we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?

Then Reuben said to his father, “You can kill my two sons if I don’t bring him back to you. Put him in my care, and I will return him to you.”

May I never enter their council;may I never join their assembly.For in their anger they kill men,and on a whim they hamstring oxen.

Judah is a young lion—my son, you return from the kill.He crouches; he lies down like a lionor a lioness—who dares to rouse him?

“When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them as they deliver. If the child is a son, kill him, but if it’s a daughter, she may live.”

“Who made you a leader and judge over us?” the man replied. “Are you planning to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”Then Moses became afraid and thought: What I did is certainly known.

When Pharaoh heard about this, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian, and sat down by a well.

Now in Midian the Lord told Moses, “Return to Egypt, for all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.”

I told you: Let My son go so that he may worship Me, but you refused to let him go. Now I will kill your firstborn son!”

“May the Lord take note of you and judge,” they said to them, “because you have made us reek in front of Pharaoh and his officials—putting a sword in their hand to kill us!”

But the people thirsted there for water, and grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you ever bring us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

My anger will burn, and I will kill you with the sword; then your wives will be widows and your children fatherless.

Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent and the just, because I will not justify the guilty.

Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He brought them out with an evil intent to kill them in the mountains and wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from Your great anger and relent concerning this disaster planned for Your people.

He told them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘Every man fasten his sword to his side; go back and forth through the camp from entrance to entrance, and each of you kill his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’”

If a man has sexual intercourse with an animal, he must be put to death; you are also to kill the animal.

If a woman comes near any animal and mates with it, you are to kill the woman and the animal. They must be put to death; their own blood is on them.

If You are going to treat me like this, please kill me right now. If You are pleased with me, don’t let me see my misery anymore.”

If You kill this people with a single blow, the nations that have heard of Your fame will declare,

Is it not enough that you brought us up from a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Do you also have to appoint yourself as ruler over us?

Balaam answered the donkey, “You made me look like a fool. If I had a sword in my hand, I’d kill you now!”

So Moses told Israel’s judges, “Kill each of the men who aligned themselves with Baal of Peor.”

So now, kill all the male children and kill every woman who has had sexual relations with a man,

The avenger of blood himself is to kill the murderer; when he finds him, he is to kill him.

or if in hostility he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him must be put to death; he is a murderer. The avenger of blood is to kill the murderer when he finds him.

or without looking drops a stone that could kill a person and he dies, but he was not his enemy and wasn’t trying to harm him,

Otherwise, those in the land you brought us from will say, ‘Because the Lord wasn’t able to bring them into the land He had promised them, and because He hated them, He brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’

Instead, you must kill him. Your hand is to be the first against him to put him to death, and then the hands of all the people.

‘The one who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person is cursed.’And all the people will say, ‘Amen!’

This is what Joshua did to them: he delivered them from the hands of the Israelites, and they did not kill them.

He asked Zebah and Zalmunna, “What kind of men did you kill at Tabor?”“They were like you,” they said. “Each resembled the son of a king.”

So he said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother! As the Lord lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.”

Then he said to Jether, his firstborn, “Get up and kill them.” The youth did not draw his sword, for he was afraid because he was still a youth.

Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Get up and kill us yourself, for a man is judged by his strength.” So Gideon got up, killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and took the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.

so that the crime against the 70 sons of Jerubbaal might come to justice and their blood would be avenged on their brother Abimelech, who killed them, and on the lords of Shechem, who had helped him kill his brothers.

He quickly called his armor-bearer and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, or they’ll say about me, ‘A woman killed him.’” So his armor-bearer thrust him through, and he died.

But his wife said to him, “If the Lord had intended to kill us, He wouldn’t have accepted the burnt offering and the grain offering from us, and He would not have shown us all these things or spoken to us now like this.”

They said to him, “We’ve come to arrest you and hand you over to the Philistines.”Then Samson told them, “Swear to me that you yourselves won’t kill me.”

“No,” they said, “we won’t kill you, but we will tie you up securely and hand you over to them.” So they tied him up with two new ropes and led him away from the rock.

When the Gazites heard that Samson was there, they surrounded the place and waited in ambush for him all that night at the city gate. While they were waiting quietly, they said, “Let us wait until dawn; then we will kill him.”

Citizens of Gibeah ganged up on me and surrounded the house at night. They intended to kill me, but they raped my concubine, and she died.

The congregation sent 12,000 brave warriors there and commanded them: “Go and kill the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead with the sword, including women and children.

If a man sins against another man, God can intercede for him, but if a man sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to their father, since the Lord intended to kill them.

The Gittites then sent the ark of God to Ekron, but when it got there, the Ekronites cried out, “They’ve moved the ark of Israel’s God to us to kill us and our people!”

The Ekronites called all the Philistine rulers together. They said, “Send the ark of Israel’s God away. It must return to its place so it won’t kill us and our people!” For the fear of death pervaded the city; God’s hand was oppressing them.

Afterward, the people said to Samuel, “Who said that Saul should not reign over us? Give us those men so we can kill them!”

Now go and attack the Amalekites and completely destroy everything they have. Do not spare them. Kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

Samuel asked, “How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me!”The Lord answered, “Take a young cow with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’

If he wins in a fight against me and kills me, we will be your servants. But if I win against him and kill him, then you will be our servants and serve us.”

I went after it, struck it down, and rescued the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it.

David ran and stood over him. He grabbed the Philistine’s sword, pulled it from its sheath, and used it to kill him. Then he cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they ran.

Saul ordered his son Jonathan and all his servants to kill David. But Saul’s son Jonathan liked David very much,

so he told him: “My father Saul intends to kill you. Be on your guard in the morning and hide in a secret place and stay there.

Saul sent agents to David’s house to watch for him and kill him in the morning. But his wife Michal warned David, “If you don’t escape tonight, you will be dead tomorrow!”

Saul sent the agents back to see David and said, “Bring him on his bed so I can kill him.”

Saul asked Michal, “Why did you deceive me like this? You sent my enemy away, and he has escaped!”She answered him, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! Why should I kill you?’”

Deal faithfully with your servant, for you have brought me into a covenant with you before the Lord. If I have done anything wrong, then kill me yourself; why take me to your father?”

Then Saul threw his spear at Jonathan to kill him, so he knew that his father was determined to kill David.

Then the king ordered the guards standing by him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord because they sided with David. For they knew he was fleeing, but they didn’t tell me.” But the king’s servants would not lift a hand to execute the priests of the Lord.

You can see with your own eyes that the Lord handed you over to me today in the cave. Someone advised me to kill you, but I took pity on you and said: I won’t lift my hand against my lord, since he is the Lord’s anointed.

See, my father! Look at the corner of your robe in my hand, for I cut it off, but I didn’t kill you. Look and recognize that there is no evil or rebellion in me. I haven’t sinned against you even though you are hunting me down to take my life.

You yourself have told me today what good you did for me: when the Lord handed me over to you, you didn’t kill me.

David then asked him, “Will you lead me to these raiders?”He said, “Swear to me by God that you won’t kill me or turn me over to my master, and I will lead you to them.”

Then he begged me, ‘Stand over me and kill me, for I’m mortally wounded, but my life still lingers.’

Then David summoned one of his servants and said, “Come here and kill him!” The servant struck him, and he died.

How much more when wicked men kill a righteous man in his own house on his own bed! So now, should I not require his blood from your hands and wipe you off the earth?”

Now Absalom commanded his young men, “Watch Amnon until he is in a good mood from the wine. When I order you to strike Amnon, then kill him. Don’t be afraid. Am I not the one who has commanded you? Be strong and courageous!”

“Look,” Absalom explained to Joab, “I sent for you and said, ‘Come here. I want to send you to the king to ask: Why have I come back from Geshur? I’d be better off if I were still there.’ So now, let me see the king. If I am guilty, let him kill me.”

The Gibeonites were not Israelites but rather a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had taken an oath concerning them, but Saul had tried to kill them in his zeal for the Israelites and Judah. So David summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them.

Then Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the giant, whose bronze spear weighed about eight pounds and who wore new armor, intended to kill David.

It was reported to Solomon: “Look, Adonijah fears King Solomon, and he has taken hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon first swear to me that he will not kill his servant with the sword.’”

“Keep an eye on Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim who is with you. He uttered malicious curses against me the day I went to Mahanaim. But he came down to meet me at the Jordan River, and I swore to him by the Lord: ‘I will never kill you with the sword.’

The king responded, “Give the living baby to the first woman, and don’t kill him. She is his mother.”

Therefore, Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt, where he remained until Solomon’s death.

She said to Elijah, “Man of God, what do we have in common? Have you come to remind me of my guilt and to kill my son?”

But when I leave you, the Spirit of the Lord may carry you off to some place I don’t know. Then when I go report to Ahab and he doesn’t find you, he will kill me. But I, your servant, have feared the Lord from my youth.

Now you say, ‘Go tell your lord, “Elijah is here!”’ He will kill me!”

He told him, “Because you did not listen to the voice of the Lord, mark my words: When you leave me, a lion will kill you.” When he left him, a lion attacked and killed him.

When the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “My father, should I kill them? I will kill them.”

Elisha replied, “Don’t kill them. Do you kill those you have captured with your sword or your bow? Set food and water in front of them so they can eat and drink and go to their master.”

If we say, ‘Let’s go into the city,’ we will die there because the famine is in the city, but if we sit here, we will also die. So now, come on. Let’s go to the Arameans’ camp. If they let us live, we will live; if they kill us, we will die.”

and Hazael asked, “Why is my lord weeping?”He replied, “Because I know the evil you will do to the people of Israel. You will set their fortresses on fire. You will kill their young men with the sword. You will dash their little ones to pieces. You will rip open their pregnant women.”

When he finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guards and officers, “Go in and kill them. Don’t let anyone out.” So they struck them down with the sword. Then the guards and officers threw the bodies out and went into the inner room of the temple of Baal.

David said, “Whoever is the first to kill a Jebusite will become chief commander.” Joab son of Zeruiah went up first, so he became the chief.

Jehoshabeath, the king’s daughter, rescued Joash son of Ahaziah from the king’s sons who were being killed and put him and the one who nursed him in a bedroom. Now Jehoshabeath was the daughter of King Jehoram and the wife of Jehoiada the priest. Since she was Ahaziah’s sister, she hid Joash from Athaliah so that she did not kill him.

And our enemies said, “They won’t know or see anything until we’re among them and can kill them and stop the work.”

I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was restricted to his house. He said:Let us meet at the house of Godinside the temple.Let us shut the temple doorsbecause they are coming to kill you.They are coming to kill you tonight!

Letters were sent by couriers to each of the royal provinces telling the officials to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jewish people—young and old, women and children—and plunder their possessions on a single day, the thirteenth day of Adar, the twelfth month.

The king’s edict gave the Jews in each and every city the right to assemble and defend themselves, to destroy, kill, and annihilate every ethnic and provincial army hostile to them, including women and children, and to take their possessions as spoils of war.

He will suck the poison of cobras;a viper’s fangs will kill him.