What Does Genesis 9:6 Mean in the King James?
Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse turns the same act of pouring out back upon the one who spills blood, because the human bears God’s image.
THE MEANING
Human blood is not disposable: the verse places its shedding under human consequence because the person bears the image of God. The one who spills another person’s blood faces the same measure named in the verse.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a human life can be erased without consequence: spilled blood returns as a claim against the one who spills it.
THE ROOT
שֹׁפֵךְ
shofekh
GROWS FROM
שׁפך
pour out, spill
“shed” in this verse is shofekh. The Hebrew repeats שׁפך (shaphakh, pour out): first a person spills blood, then that person’s blood is poured out. The same verb describes pouring out the heart before God, so the root carries the image of outflow; here the sentence turns that flow back upon the killer.
ALSO GROWS
shaphakh dam: pour out blood; shed blood
שפך דם
This is the verse’s verb-and-object phrase, repeated first actively and then passively.
shaphakh lev: pour out the heart
שפך לב
Lamentations 2:19 uses the same verb for pouring out the heart; the object changes, while the sense of an outflow remains.
צֶלֶם
tselem
GROWS FROM
צלם
image, form, representation
The reason clause grounds the sentence in the image the human bears: harm to a human reaches what carries God’s representation. The same word describes Seth as Adam’s image, so tselem also speaks of resemblance carried through human relationship.
ALSO GROWS
tselem Elohim: image of God
צֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים
The verse names this image as the reason human bloodshed bears a consequence.
tsalmo: his image
צַלְמוֹ
Genesis 5:3 uses this same word for Seth as Adam’s image, showing the word’s relational sense.
אָדָם
adam
GROWS FROM
אדם
human, humankind; linked in Genesis wordplay with the ground
“man” in this verse is adam. אָדָם (adam, human) contains a sound echo of דָּם (dam, blood): the shared consonants keep the blood audible within the word for the human being it belongs to. אֲדָמָה (adamah, ground) also echoes the human name, holding earth-formed life together with the image of God.
ALSO GROWS
adam: human, humankind; also the name Adam
אָדָם
The verse’s word covers humanity generally while retaining the sound of a particular human name.
adamah: ground, soil
אֲדָמָה
Genesis 2:7 plays the human’s name against the ground from which the human is formed.
THE PATTERN
Human life is guarded because the human bears God’s image.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight.Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.THE THREAD
And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.The Hebrew word דָּם (dam, blood) appears in both verses. Genesis 4:10 shows blood poured into the ground still crying out; Genesis 9:6 names the image of God as the reason human bloodshed bears a consequence.
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