Genesis 9:6

Whoso sheddeth man's blood, &c. In the first clause of this verse the principle is laid down, that murder is to be punished with death. Blood for blood and life for life is to be the penalty (cf. Genesis 9:5). The sanctity of human life is thus protected by Divine sanction. The custom of blood-revenge (cf. Genesis 4:10-15), which has entered so largely into the social conditions of Semitic life, whether civilized or barbarous, is here stated in its simplest terms. The murderer's life is "required."

The sentence reads like a line of poetry, Shôphêk dăm hâ-âdâm Bâ-âdâm dâmô yis-shâphêk. LXX seems to have misread bâ-âdâm("by man"), rendering ἀντὶ τοῦ αἵματος αὐτοῦ = "for his blood" (? b" dâmô): while in the Latin it is omitted altogether.

for in the image of God, &c. This clause contains the foundation-principle for the tremendous sentence just promulgated. Man is different from the animals. God made him expressly "in His own image" (see note on Genesis 1:27). Violence done to human personality constitutes an outrage against the Divine. Man is to discern in his neighbour "the image of God," and to honour it as the symbol of Divine origin and human brotherhood. As that "image" is not physical (for God is spirit), nor moral (for man is sinful), it must denote man's higher nature, expressed by his self-consciousness, freedom of will, reason, affection, &c.

The prohibitions of blood eating and of murder form two of the so-called "commandments of Noah" which were held by the Rabbis of the Jewish synagogue to have been Divinely imposed upon mankind before the days of Abraham; and were, therefore, in theory required from Gentiles living among the Israelites and from Gentiles who attached themselves to the Jewish community.

The "commandments of Noah" are seven the prohibitions of (1) disobedience, (2) idolatry, (3) blasphemy, (4) adultery, (5) theft, (6) murder, and (7) the eating of blood.