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.
5. your blood ] The second prohibition is that of manslaughter. The thought of human bloodshed is naturally suggested by the subject of the slaying of animals. Man’s life is sacred. Neither man nor beast is to take it.
the blood of your lives ] A difficult expression. Literally, “for,” or “according to, your souls,” i.e. the blood of a person for the life of each person, “blood for blood,” “life for life,” will God require (as Gen 9:6). That “the blood of your souls” means “the blood of your own selves,” as distinguished from “the blood of the animals,” is another explanation, but not so probable.
But either of these renderings is to be preferred to that of Tuch, “for the protection of your lives.”
will I require ] This thought that God Himself “will require it,” in the case of human bloodshed, appears in Psa 9:12, “he that maketh inquisition for blood remembereth them,” and Psa 10:13, “wherefore doth the wicked contemn God, and say in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.” See also Gen 42:22, “behold, his blood is required.”
of every beast ] e.g. in Exo 21:28-29, the ox that gores a person to death is to be stoned.
at the hand of every man’s brother ] “Brother” here denotes the brotherhood of humanity, not of a particular family. He who slays a man slays his own “brother,” although technically there is no relationship.
the life of man ] i.e. “the nephesh, or vital principle, of man.” In the first clause God had said He would “require” the blood: here He says He will “require” the life. In Gen 9:4 “the life” is “the blood.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 5. Surely your blood – will I require; at the hand of every beast] This is very obscure, but if taken literally it seems to be an awful warning against cruelty to the brute creation; and from it we may conclude that horse-racers, hare-hunters, bull-baiters, and cock-fighters shall be obliged to give an account to God for every creature they have wantonly destroyed. Instead of chaiyah, “beast,” the Samaritan reads [Sam. Yod Kaph] chai, “living,” any “living creature or person;” this makes a very good sense, and equally forbids cruelty either to men or brutes.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And; or, for, as the particle is oft taken; this being the reason of the foregoing prohibition.
Of your lives; or, of your souls, i.e. of your persons; the word soul being oft put for person. Or, your blood, which is for your lives, i.e. which by the spirits it generates is the great preserver and instrument of your lives, and of all your vital actions, and the great bond which ties your souls and bodies together. The sense of the place is: If I am thus careful for the blood of beasts, be assured I will be much more solicitous for the blood of men, when it shall be shed by unjust and violent hands. I will make inquisition for the author of such bloodshed, as I did after Cain, and consequently punish him; for this phrase of requiring implies punishment. See Gen 42:22; Deu 18:19, compared with Act 3:23; Psa 9:13. If magistrates neglect this duty, I myself will avenge it by my own hand.
At the hand of every beast will I require it; not for the punishment of the beast, which being under no law is not capable of sin nor punishment; but for caution to men, for whose use seeing they were made, it is no abuse of them if they be destroyed for mans benefit. Compare Exo 21:28; Lev 20:15.
At the hand of every mans brother. This is added, either,
1. As an aggravation of the crime, because the man slain was the brother of the murderer; all men being made of one blood, Act 17:26. And having one Father, even God, Mal 2:10, and Adam too. Upon which account all men are frequently called one anothers brethren, as is manifest from Gen 26:31; 29:4; Lev 19:17; 25:14; 26:37, and from many other places of Scripture. Or.
2. As an assurance of the punishment of the murderer, without any exception of the nearest relation; which, though it makes the sin greater, yet many times is a security against punishment, the murderer easily finding favour and pardon from his parents and dear friends. But the former sense seems the better.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. surely your blood of your liveswill I requireThe fourth part establishes a new power forprotecting lifethe institution of the civil magistrate (Ro13:4), armed with public and official authority to repress thecommission of violence and crime. Such a power had not previouslyexisted in patriarchal society.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And surely your blood of your lives will I require,…. Or “for surely your blood”, c. o and so is a reason of the preceding law, to teach men not to shed human blood; or though, “surely your blood”, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra; though God had given them liberty to slay the creatures, and shed their blood, and eat them, yet he did not allow them to shed their own blood, or the blood of their fellow creatures; should they do this, he would surely make inquisition, and punish them for it:
at the hand of every beast will I require it; should a beast kill a man, or be the instrument of shedding his blood, it should be slain for it; not by means of another beast, God so ordering it, as Aben Ezra suggests, but by the hands or order of the civil magistrate; which was to be done partly to show the great regard God has to the life of man, and partly to punish men for not taking more care of their beasts, as well as to be an example to others to be more careful, and to lessen, the number of mischievous creatures:
and at the hand of man, at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man; which may be reasonably supposed; for if it is required of a beast, and that is punished for the slaughter of a man, then much more a man himself, that is wilfully guilty of murder; and the rather, since he is by general relation a brother to the person he has murdered, which is an aggravation of his crime: or it may signify, that though he is a brother in the nearest relation, as his crime is the greater, he shall not go unpunished.
o , Sept. “enim”, V. L.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
5. And surely your blood of your lives will I require. In these words the Lord more explicitly declares that he does not forbid the use of blood out of regard to animals themselves, but because he accounts the life of men precious: and because the sole end of his law is, to promote the exercise of common humanity between them. I therefore think that Jerome, in rendering the particle אך ( ach,) for, has done better than they who read it as an adversative disjunctive; ‘otherwise your blood will I require;’ yet literally it may best be thus translated, ‘And truly your blood.’ (290) The whole context is (in my opinion) to be thus read, ‘And truly your blood, which is in your lives, or which is as your lives, that is which vivifies and quickens you, as it respects your body, will I require: from the hand of all animals will require it; from the hand of man, from the hand, I say, of man, his brother, will I require the life of man.’ The distinction by which the Jews constitute four kinds of homicide is frivolous; for I have explained the simple and genuine sense, namely, that God so highly estimates our life, that he will not suffer murder to go unavenged. And he inculcates this in so many words, in order that he may render the cruelty of those the more detestable, who lay violent hands upon their neighbors. And it is no common proof of God’s love towards us, that he undertakes the defense of our lives, and declares that he will be the avenger of our death. In saying that he will exact punishment from animals for the violated life of men, he gives us this as an example. For if, on behalf of man, he is angry with brute creatures who are hurried by a blind impulse to feed upon him; what, do we suppose, will become of the man who, unjustly, cruelly, and contrary to the sense of nature, falls upon his brother?
(290) Thus agreeing with the English version.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5) Your blood of your lives. . . . This verse should be translated: And surely your blood, which is for your souls, will I require (i.e., avenge); from every beast will I require it, and from man: even from a mans brother will I require the soul of man, as from Cain. Your blood, which is for your souls, means that it is the means for the maintenance of the animal life within them. As it is, then, the support of mans life, au animal which sheds it becomes guilty, and must be slain; and still more must those animals be destroyed which prey upon man. Thus there is a command given for the extirpation of the carnivora at the time when the more peaceful animals had just been saved. The last clause literally is . . . at the hand of man, at the hand of one that is his brother, will I require the soul of man. This has nothing to do with the avenger of blood. The near kinsman is here the murderer, and the commandment requires that even such an one should not be spared.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. And surely In the original, Gen 9:4-5 both commence with the particle, , except, or but, which introduces two stringent prohibitions supplementary to the liberty granted in Gen 9:2; Gen 3:1) The life, or blood of the animal, is never to be used as food . 2) The life of man is to be held sacred,
Blood of your lives Rather Your blood, for your lives, (in requital for them,) will I require, (seek for, demand . ) A command sternly guarding the life of man .
At the hand of every beast Beasts should be killed that endanger the life of man, (Exo 21:28,) for the animal creation exists for man. By this precept the sacredness of human life is impressively declared.
At the hand of every man’s brother The brotherhood of man is the foundation of this precept. The beast is man’s servant made for him but man, wherever met, of whatever race or condition, is his brother. How completely this strikes at the root of national pride, at the aristocracy of family or race! Man’s life is to be sacred simply because he is a man, a brother, God’s image. The Noachian precept is the germ of the Pauline declaration uttered in the ears of the proud Athenians, amid the very glories of Greek civilization, God “hath made of one blood all nations of men.” Act 17:26.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Gen 9:5. And surely your blood of your lives, &c. The reason given in the 4th verse for the prohibition of blood is, that “the blood is the life;” and, accordingly, they are used for each other, not only in sacred but profane writers*. And, upon this declaration, the Lord goes on to prohibit murder: “blood is the life;” and certainly I will require your blood for your lives; lenapshotikem; i.e.. I will make solemn inquest, in order to punish and exact blood for blood, life for life, at the hand of every beast, see Exo 21:28 and at the hand of every man will I require it: at the hand of every man’s brother (a name used to shew our common relationship, and to give us the greater abhorrence of murder) will I require the life of man. And, to make this prohibition the more clear, and at the same time the more forcible, it is added, Exo 21:6. Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made he man: whence, as Philo observes, homicide becomes the most heinous sacrilege; because, of all things in the world, nothing is more sacred, nothing stamped with more lively characters of the Divinity, than man: murder therefore is not only the most inhuman, foul, and monstrous of crimes, but it is an act of high treason against the Divine Majesty, whom man represents in this lower world.
* Virgil says, AEn. 9. v. 349.Purpuream vomit ille animam; Pours forth his purple life.
REFLECTIONS.We have here God’s gracious dealings with Noah, and the great gifts bestowed on him.
1. He blessed him. This is worth all the rest, and what makes every gift truly valuable: for the blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich. They should increase and multiply. There were few men left, but in virtue of this, one shall quickly become a thousand. Children and the fruit of the womb are an heritage and gift that cometh of the Lord.
2. He bestows the property of, and gives them dominion over, the creatures. If the ox and horse serve us with their strength, we must remember who put them under our feet. If the wild beasts, when unprovoked, rather fly from, than pursue us, it is because God hath put the dread of us upon them. Were God only to let loose the brute creation upon us, we should quickly be destroyed.
3. He permits us flesh for our sustenance. Before we partake of the mercy at our tables daily, let us not forget to acknowledge the gift, and to adore the gracious Giver.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gen 9:5 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.
Ver. 5. Your blood of your lives will I require, ] i.e., I will punish it either by the magistrate, or if he fail to do his office, by mine own immediate hand; as he did in David, Charles the Ninth of France, Richard the Third of England, Felix Count of Waterburg, and others, that either were above law, or escaped the lash of it. See for this, “The Thunderbolt of God’s Judgments,” lib. ii. cap. iv. 5,16. Richard the Third used the instruments of his bloody plots, as men do their candles; burn the first out to a snuff, and then having lighted another, tread that under foot. a
a Daniel’s Chron. continued by Trussel.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
of. Genitive of Apposition (App-17) = “blood, [that is] your lives.
lives = souls. Plural of Hebrew. nephesh.
hand of every beast. Figure of speech Prosopopoeia (App-6).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
every: Exo 21:12, Exo 21:28, Exo 21:29
and at: Gen 4:9, Gen 4:10, Lev 19:16, Num 35:31-33, Deu 21:1-9, Psa 9:12, Mat 23:35
brother: Act 17:26
Reciprocal: Gen 4:14 – that Gen 27:45 – why Gen 37:21 – not kill him Gen 42:22 – his blood Gen 43:9 – of my hand Exo 20:13 – General Exo 26:33 – within the veil Lev 24:17 – And he Num 35:16 – the 2Sa 1:16 – Thy blood 2Sa 4:11 – require 2Sa 12:9 – despised 1Ki 2:31 – that thou 2Ch 24:22 – The Lord 2Ch 25:3 – he slew 2Ch 33:25 – slew Psa 10:13 – Thou Eze 3:18 – but Eze 18:10 – a shedder Eze 33:6 – his blood Mat 5:21 – Thou Luk 11:50 – the blood Act 28:4 – a murderer 1Ti 1:9 – manslayers Rev 13:10 – he that killeth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gen 9:5. And surely your blood of your lives will I require The sense is, If I am thus careful of the blood of beasts, be assured I will be much more solicitous for the blood of men, when it shall be shed by unjust and violent hands. Our own lives are not so our own that we may quit them at our own pleasure; but they are Gods, and we must resign them at his pleasure. If we any way hasten our own deaths, we are accountable to God for it. Yea, At the hand of every beast will I require it To show how tender God was of the life of man, he will have the beast put to death that kills a man. This was confirmed by the law of Moses, Exo 21:28, and it would not be improper to observe it still. And at the hand of every mans brother will I require the life of man I will avenge the blood of the murdered upon the murderer. When God requires the life of a man at the hand of him that took it away unjustly, as he cannot render that, therefore he must render his own in lieu of it, which is the only way he hath of making restitution.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
9:5 {e} 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.
(e) That is, I will take vengeance for your blood.