Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
After a catastrophic flood that wiped out nearly all of humanity, God makes a formal covenant — a binding promise — with Noah and his family, setting out principles for how human civilization should rebuild. This verse is part of that covenant. God grounds the prohibition against murder in a profound theological claim: every human being is made in his image — a concept theologians call the "imago Dei," Latin for "image of God." This means that something of the divine nature is reflected in every person. To take a human life is therefore not just a crime against an individual — it's a violation of something sacred. The verse also establishes that justice requires a proportional response.
God, remind me today that every face I encounter carries your image. Give me eyes to see people the way you do — not as obstacles, inconveniences, or categories, but as those you made and love. Where I've failed to honor that dignity, forgive me. And where it's hardest, give me a grace that goes further than my own willingness ever could. Amen.
In a world still soaked from the flood, God rebuilds civilization on a single, staggering idea: every human being carries the image of God. Not just the noble, the kind, or the easy to love. Every person you've ever dismissed, every face you've scrolled past without a second thought, every stranger who doesn't seem to have much going for them — they bear something of the divine. The prohibition against murder isn't primarily about rules. It's about what a human life actually is. This verse asks you to look again. At the coworker who grates on you. At the person whose politics make your jaw clench. At the neighbor you've quietly written off. The image of God isn't earned and it isn't forfeited — it's given, at the moment of creation, to every person who has ever drawn breath. You don't have to agree with someone, love them effortlessly, or even understand them to treat them as someone God made and values. That is both the simplest and most demanding thing this verse requires of you.
What do you think it actually means to be made "in the image of God"? What does that phrase include — reason, creativity, moral conscience, something else entirely?
How does grounding human dignity in God's image — rather than in a person's behavior, usefulness, or social standing — change the way you think about human worth?
This verse establishes a principle of proportional justice — life for life. How do you wrestle with that in the context of modern debates about capital punishment or criminal justice?
Is there a group of people you find it genuinely difficult to see as image-bearers of God? What makes it hard — and what would it take to shift that?
What would change about how you treated one specific person in your life this week if you genuinely believed, in your gut, that they carried the image of God?
Thou shalt not kill.
Exodus 20:13
He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death.
Exodus 21:12
When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Ezekiel 3:18
And he that killeth any man shall surely be put to death.
Leviticus 24:17
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Genesis 1:26
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Genesis 1:27
Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.
Matthew 26:52
He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
Revelation 13:10
"Whoever sheds man's blood [unlawfully], By man (judicial government) shall his blood be shed, For in the image of God He made man.
AMP
“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.
ESV
'Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.
NASB
“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.
NIV
“Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man.
NKJV
If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in his own image.
NLT
Whoever sheds human blood, by humans let his blood be shed, Because God made humans in his image reflecting God's very nature.
MSG