Homicide

Passages on this topic

From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index. The groupings are Nave’s; the verses are shown in the text used across this site.

Accidental

• Exodus 21:13 If, however, he did not lie in wait, but God allowed it to happen, then I will appoint for you a place where he may flee.
• Exodus 21:28–32 If an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox must surely be stoned, and its meat must not be eaten. But the owner of the ox shall not be held responsible. But if the ox has a habit of goring, and its owner has been warned yet does not restrain it, and it kills a man or woman, then the ox must be…
• Numbers 35:11–15 designate cities to serve as your cities of refuge, so that a person who kills someone unintentionally may flee there. You are to have these cities as a refuge from the avenger, so that the manslayer will not die until he stands trial before the assembly. The cities you select will be your six citi…
• Numbers 35:22–28 But if anyone pushes a person suddenly, without hostility, or throws an object at him unintentionally, or without looking drops a heavy stone that kills him, but he was not an enemy and did not intend to harm him, then the congregation must judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood accordin…
• Numbers 35:32 Nor should you accept a ransom for the person who flees to a city of refuge and allow him to return and live on his own land before the death of the high priest.
• Deuteronomy 4:41–43 Then Moses set aside three cities across the Jordan to the east to which a manslayer could flee after killing his neighbor unintentionally without prior malice. To save one’s own life, he could flee to one of these cities: Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau belonging to the Reubenites, Ramoth i…
• Deuteronomy 19:2–10 then you are to set apart for yourselves three cities within the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess. You are to build roads for yourselves and divide into three regions the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that any manslayer can flee to these cities.…
• Joshua 20:1–9 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Tell the Israelites to designate the cities of refuge, as I instructed you through Moses, so that anyone who kills another unintentionally or accidentally may flee there. These will be your refuge from the avenger of blood. When someone flees to one of these cities, s…

Felonious, or Murder

• Genesis 4:9–12 And the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I do not know!” he answered. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” “What have you done?” replied the LORD. “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth…
• Genesis 9:5–6 And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man: Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.
• Genesis 49:7 Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.
• Exodus 20:13 You shall not murder.
• Exodus 21:29–32 But if the ox has a habit of goring, and its owner has been warned yet does not restrain it, and it kills a man or woman, then the ox must be stoned and its owner must also be put to death. If payment is demanded of him instead, he may redeem his life by paying the full amount demanded of him. If t…
• Numbers 35:16–22 If, however, anyone strikes a person with an iron object and kills him, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death. Or if anyone has in his hand a stone of deadly size, and he strikes and kills another, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death. If anyone has in his…
• Numbers 35:30–31 If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be put to death on the testimony of the witnesses. But no one is to be put to death based on the testimony of a lone witness. You are not to accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who deserves to die; he must surely be put to death.
• Deuteronomy 5:17 You shall not murder.
• Deuteronomy 17:6 On the testimony of two or three witnesses a man shall be put to death, but he shall not be executed on the testimony of a lone witness.
• Deuteronomy 21:1–9 If one is found slain, lying in a field in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance from the victim to the neighboring cities. Then the elders of the city nearest the victim shall take…

See Conspiracy

See Fratricide

See Parricide

See Patricide

See Regicide

See Suicide

David's Repentance for, and Confession of, the Murder of Uriah

• Psalm 51:1–17 For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him after his adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash me clean of my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I kn…

Instances of Felonious

By Cain

• Genesis 4:8 Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.

Lamech

• Genesis 4:23–24 Then Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, listen to my speech. For I have slain a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”

Simeon and Levi

• Genesis 34:25–31 Three days later, while they were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons (Dinah’s brothers Simeon and Levi) took their swords, went into the unsuspecting city, and slaughtered every male. They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with their swords, took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went away. Jacob’s…

Pharaoh

• Exodus 1:16 “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, observe them on the birthstools. If the child is a son, kill him; but if it is a daughter, let her live.”
• Exodus 1:22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: “Every son born to the Hebrews you must throw into the Nile, but every daughter you may allow to live.”

Moses

• Exodus 2:12 After looking this way and that and seeing no one, he struck down the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.

Ehud

• Judges 3:16–23 Now Ehud had made for himself a double-edged sword a cubit long. He strapped it to his right thigh under his cloak and brought the tribute to Eglon king of Moab, who was an obese man. After Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he ushered out those who had carried it. But upon reaching the idol…

Jael

• Judges 4:21 But as he lay sleeping from exhaustion, Heber’s wife Jael took a tent peg, grabbed a hammer, and went silently to Sisera. She drove the peg through his temple and into the ground, and he died.

Abimelech

• Judges 9:5 He went to his father’s house in Ophrah, and on one stone murdered his seventy brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal. But Jotham, the youngest son of Jerubbaal, survived, because he hid himself.
• Judges 9:18 but you have risen up against my father’s house this day and killed his seventy sons on a single stone, and you have made Abimelech, the son of his maidservant, king over the leaders of Shechem because he is your brother —
• Judges 9:56 In this way God repaid the wickedness that Abimelech had done to his father in murdering his seventy brothers.

An Amalekite

• 2 Samuel 1:16 For David had said to the Amalekite, “Your blood be on your own head because your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I killed the LORD’s anointed.’”

Abner

• 2 Samuel 2:18–24 The three sons of Zeruiah were there: Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was fleet of foot like a wild gazelle, and he chased Abner, not turning to the right or to the left in his pursuit. And Abner glanced back and said, “Is that you, Asahel?” “It is,” Asahel replied. So Abner told him, “Turn t…

Joab

• 2 Samuel 3:24–27 So Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Look, Abner came to you. Why did you dismiss him? Now he is getting away! Surely you realize that Abner son of Ner came to deceive you and to track your movements and all that you are doing.” As soon as Joab had left David, he sent messengers…
• 2 Samuel 20:9–10 “Are you well, my brother?” Joab asked Amasa. And with his right hand Joab grabbed Amasa by the beard to kiss him. Amasa was not on guard against the dagger in Joab’s hand, and Joab stabbed him in the stomach and spilled out his intestines on the ground. And Joab did not need to strike him again, f…
• 1 Kings 2:5 Moreover, you know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me— what he did to Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether, the two commanders of the armies of Israel. He killed them in peacetime to avenge the blood of war. He stained with the blood of war the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet.

Solomon

• 1 Kings 2:23–46 Then King Solomon swore by the LORD: “May God punish me, and ever so severely, if Adonijah has not made this request at the expense of his life. And now, as surely as the LORD lives — the One who established me, who set me on the throne of my father David, and who founded for me a dynasty as He pro…

Rechab and Baanah

• 2 Samuel 4:5–8 Now Rechab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, set out and arrived at the house of Ish-bosheth in the heat of the day, while the king was taking his midday nap. They entered the interior of the house as if to get some wheat, and they stabbed him in the stomach. Then Rechab and his brothe…

David

• 2 Samuel 11:14–17 The next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. In the letter he wrote: “Put Uriah at the front of the fiercest battle; then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and killed.” So as Joab besieged the city, he assigned Uriah to a place where he knew the strongest ene…
• 2 Samuel 12:9 Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own. You have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites.
• Psalm 51:14 Deliver me from bloodguilt, O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing of Your righteousness.

Of Amon

• 2 Kings 21:23 Then the servants of Amon conspired against him and killed the king in his palace.

Absalom

• 2 Samuel 13:22–29 And Absalom never said a word to Amnon, either good or bad, because he hated Amnon for violating his sister Tamar. Two years later, when Absalom’s sheepshearers were at Baal-hazor near Ephraim, he invited all the sons of the king. And he went to the king and said, “Your servant has just hired shear…

Baasha

• 1 Kings 15:27–29 Then Baasha son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against Nadab, and Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon of the Philistines while Nadab and all Israel were besieging the city. In the third year of Asa’s reign over Judah, Baasha killed Nadab and reigned in his place. As soon as Baasha bec…

Zimri

• 1 Kings 16:9–11 However, while Elah was in Tirzah getting drunk in the house of Arza the steward of his household there, Elah’s servant Zimri, the commander of half his chariots, conspired against him. So in the twenty-seventh year of Asa’s reign over Judah, Zimri went in, struck Elah down, and killed him. And Zim…

Ahab and Jezebel

• 1 Kings 21:10–24 But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them testify, ‘You have cursed both God and the king!’ Then take him out and stone him to death.” So the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city did as Jezebel had instructed in the letters she had written to them. They proclaimed a fast and gave N…
• 2 Kings 6:32 Now Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a messenger ahead, but before he arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this murderer has sent someone to cut off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door to keep him out. Is not the…

Hazael

• 2 Kings 8:15 But the next day Hazael took a thick cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it over the king’s face. So Ben-hadad died, and Hazael reigned in his place.

Jehu

• 2 Kings 9:24–37 Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot. And Jehu said to Bidkar his officer, “Pick him up and throw him into the field of Naboth the Jezreelite. For remember that when you and I were riding together behind his fat…
• 2 Kings 10:1–25 Now Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. So Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria to the officials of Jezreel, to the elders, and to the guardians of the sons of Ahab, saying: “When this letter arrives, since your master’s sons are with you and you have chariots and horses, a fortified city and…

Athaliah

• 2 Kings 11:1 When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to annihilate all the royal heirs.

Of Joash by his servants

• 2 Kings 12:20–21 And the servants of Joash rose up and formed a conspiracy and killed him at Beth-millo, on the road down to Silla. His servants Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer struck him down, and he died. And they buried him with his fathers in the City of David, and his son Amaziah reigned in…

Menahem

• 2 Kings 15:16 At that time Menahem, starting from Tirzah, attacked Tiphsah and everyone in its vicinity, because they would not open their gates. So he attacked Tiphsah and ripped open all the pregnant women.

Of Sennacherib

• 2 Kings 19:37 One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.
• Isaiah 37:38 One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.

Manasseh

• 2 Kings 21:16 Moreover, Manasseh shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end, in addition to the sin that he had caused Judah to commit, doing evil in the sight of the LORD.
• 2 Kings 24:4 and also for the innocent blood he had shed. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was unwilling to forgive.

Jehoram

• 2 Chronicles 21:4 When Jehoram had established himself over his father’s kingdom, he strengthened himself by putting to the sword all his brothers along with some of the princes of Israel.

Joash

• 2 Chronicles 24:21 But they conspired against Zechariah, and by order of the king, they stoned him in the courtyard of the house of the LORD.

Amaziah's soldiers

• 2 Chronicles 25:12 and the army of Judah also captured 10,000 men alive. They took them to the top of a cliff and threw them down so that all were dashed to pieces.

Nebuchadnezzar

• Jeremiah 39:6 There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also killed all the nobles of Judah.

Ishmael

• Jeremiah 41:1–7 In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family and one of the king’s chief officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah, and they ate a meal together there. Then Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him…

Ammonites

• Amos 1:13–15 This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of the Ammonites, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their territory. So I will kindle a fire in the walls of Rabbah to consume its citadels amid war cries on the d…

Herod the Great

• Matthew 2:16 When Herod saw that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was filled with rage. Sending orders, he put to death all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the Magi.

Herod Antipas

• Matthew 14:10 and sent to have John beheaded in the prison.
• Mark 6:27 So without delay, the king commanded that John’s head be brought in. He sent an executioner, who went and beheaded him in the prison.

Barabbas

• Mark 15:7 And a man named Barabbas was imprisoned with the rebels who had committed murder during the insurrection.
• Acts 3:14 You rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.

Sanhedrin and Pilate

• Matthew 26 When Jesus had finished saying all these things, He told His disciples, “You know that the Passover is two days away, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.” At that time the chief priests and elders of the people assembled in the courtyard of the high priest, whose name was Caiaph… (whole chapter)
• Matthew 27 When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people conspired against Jesus to put Him to death. They bound Him, led Him away, and handed Him over to Pilate the governor. When Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was filled with remorse and returned the thirty… (whole chapter)

Sanhedrin

• Acts 7:54–60 On hearing this, the members of the Sanhedrin were enraged, and they gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at…

Herod

• Acts 12:2 He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.
• Acts 12:19 After Herod had searched for him unsuccessfully, he examined the guards and ordered that they be executed. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and spent some time there.

By raping

• Judges 19:25–28 But the men would not listen to him. So the Levite took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. Early that morning, the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, collapsed at the doorway, and l…

Punishment of

• Genesis 4:13–15 But Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, this day You have driven me from the face of the earth, and from Your face I will be hidden; I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” “Not so!” replied the LORD. “If anyone sla…
• Genesis 9:5–6 And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man: Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.
• Genesis 27:43–45 So now, my son, obey my voice and flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran. Stay with him for a while, until your brother’s fury subsides— until your brother’s rage against you wanes and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I lose…
• Exodus 21:12 Whoever strikes and kills a man must surely be put to death.
• Exodus 21:14 But if a man schemes and acts willfully against his neighbor to kill him, you must take him away from My altar to be put to death.
• Leviticus 24:17 And if a man takes the life of anyone else, he must surely be put to death.
• Numbers 35:16–21 If, however, anyone strikes a person with an iron object and kills him, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death. Or if anyone has in his hand a stone of deadly size, and he strikes and kills another, he is a murderer; the murderer must surely be put to death. If anyone has in his…
• Numbers 35:30–33 If anyone kills a person, the murderer is to be put to death on the testimony of the witnesses. But no one is to be put to death based on the testimony of a lone witness. You are not to accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who deserves to die; he must surely be put to death. Nor should you ac…
• Deuteronomy 19:11–13 If, however, a man hates his neighbor and lies in wait, attacks him and kills him, and then flees to one of these cities, the elders of his city must send for him, bring him back, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die. You must show him no pity. You are to purge from Israel the guilt of…
• 2 Samuel 12:9–12 Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own. You have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have…

Instances of the Punishment of Murderers

Cain

• Genesis 4:11–15 Now you are cursed and banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it will no longer yield its produce to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” But Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater…

David

• 2 Samuel 12:9–10 Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own. You have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have…

Joab

• 1 Kings 2:31–34 And the king replied, “Do just as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so remove from me and from the house of my father the innocent blood that Joab shed. The LORD will bring his bloodshed back upon his own head, for without the knowledge of my father David he struck down two men more righte…

Haman

• Esther 7:10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.

The murderer of Saul

• 2 Samuel 1:15–16 Then David summoned one of the young men and said, “Go, execute him!” So the young man struck him down, and he died. For David had said to the Amalekite, “Your blood be on your own head because your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I killed the LORD’s anointed.’”

The murderer of Ish-bosheth

• 2 Samuel 4:11–12 How much more, when wicked men kill a righteous man in his own house and on his own bed, shall I not now require his blood from your hands and remove you from the earth!” So David commanded his young men, and they killed Rechab and Baanah. They cut off their hands and feet and hung their bodies by…

The murderers of Joash

• 2 Kings 14:5 As soon as the kingdom was firmly in his grasp, Amaziah executed the servants who had murdered his father the king.