WG: Slayer / Homicide / Blood-Guilt¶
Overview¶
The OT legal-theological vocabulary of homicide is built from a small cluster of interlocking Hebrew words that distinguish the act of killing, the killer, the victim, the blood, the avenger, and the institution of refuge. Together these eight words carry the whole legal-ethical framework of Numbers 35, Deuteronomy 19, and Joshua 20, and they supply the lexical substrate for the Decalogue's Sixth Commandment.
Word Group Members¶
| Strong's | Word | Translit | POS | Occurrences | Role in Concept | Library Entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H7523 | רָצַח | ratsach | verb | 40 | The forbidden act — unlawful killing of a person; the "slayer / murderer" | H7523-ratsach.md |
| H2026 | הָרַג | harag | verb | 158 | The broader act — to slay / kill (warfare, judicial, massacre) | H2026-harag.md |
| H4191 | מוּת | muwth | verb | 694 | The outcome — to die / be put to death; judicial death formulae | H4191-muwth.md |
| H5221 | נָכָה | nakah | verb | 460 | The blow — to smite / strike (the physical act producing death) | H5221-nakah.md |
| H2491 | חָלָל | chalal | noun/adj | 85 | The victim — the slain / pierced one (especially battlefield dead) | TODO(need H2491 study) |
| H1818 | דָּם | dam | noun | 295 | The evidence — blood / blood-guilt; crying for justice | H1818-dam.md |
| H1350 | גָּאַל | gaʼal | verb | 84 | The avenger — "revenger of blood" (goʼel ha-dam); also "redeemer" | TODO(need H1350 study) |
| H4733 | מִקְלָט | miqlat | noun | 20 | The institution — city of refuge / asylum | TODO(need H4733 study) |
Relationships¶
Shared Roots¶
- H7523 ratsach and H7524 retsach (noun "slaughter") share the root רצח.
- H2491 chalal is derived from the root חלל ("pierce, profane") — cognate with H2490.
- No direct root-sharing among the eight members listed; they are a semantic cluster, not a morphological family.
Co-occurrence (shared distinct verses)¶
| Word A | Word B | Shared Verses | Typical Context |
|---|---|---|---|
| H4191 muwth | H5221 nakah | 60 | "smote him that he died" — the standard death-producing formula |
| H4191 muwth | H1818 dam | 25 | Blood-guilt requiring death; death and blood in ritual texts |
| H2026 harag | H4191 muwth | 17 | "slay him... that he die" — judicial or narrative killing |
| H5221 nakah | H1818 dam | 17 | Striking that produces bloodshed (cf. Exo 7:17, plagues) |
| H7523 ratsach | H4733 miqlat | 13 | Cities of refuge for the slayer (refuge legislation core) |
| H2026 harag | H5221 nakah | 13 | Smiting resulting in slaying (often warfare) |
| H1818 dam | H1350 gaʼal | 13 | "Avenger of blood" (goʼel ha-dam) |
| H7523 ratsach | H5221 nakah | 10 | Smite-to-murder with intent (Num 35:16–18) |
| H7523 ratsach | H1818 dam | 9 | Blood-guilt of the murderer |
| H5221 nakah | H2491 chalal | 9 | Smite the slain (battlefield / corpse legislation) |
| H7523 ratsach | H1350 gaʼal | 8 | The slayer vs. the avenger of blood |
| H7523 ratsach | H4191 muwth | 8 | The murderer shall be put to death |
| H2491 chalal | H1818 dam | 6 | The slain and their blood |
| H1350 gaʼal | H4733 miqlat | 4 | Avenger pursues to the city of refuge |
Heaviest pairings cluster in Num 35, Deut 19, and Josh 20 — the cities-of-refuge legal corpus.
LXX Overlaps (Greek words bridging ≥2 Hebrew members)¶
| Greek | Greek Meaning | Hebrew Members Bridged | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| G5407 φονεύω (phoneúō) | "murder" | ratsach (primary), miqlat, gaʼal, harag | Narrow moral "murder" — LXX uses this mainly for ratsach |
| G615 ἀποκτείνω (apokteínō) | "kill" | harag (primary), muwth | Broadest Greek killing-verb — LXX default for harag |
| G2289 θανατόω (thanatóō) | "put to death" | muwth, nakah, harag, ratsach | Judicial execution — collapses Hebrew distinctions |
| G599 ἀποθνῄσκω (apothnḗskō) | "die" | muwth (primary), ratsach, miqlat | The outcome verb |
| G3960 πατάσσω (patássō) | "strike" | nakah (primary), ratsach | The blow-verb — LXX keeps nakah's semantic focus |
| G129 αἷμα (haîma) | "blood" | dam (primary), gaʼal, ratsach | Blood / blood-guilt field |
| G2288 θάνατος (thánatos) | "death" | muwth, ratsach | Death as event or penalty |
| G3498 νεκρός (nekrós) | "dead / corpse" | muwth, chalal | The slain / the dead body |
| G3162 μάχαιρα (máchaira) | "sword" | chalal, harag | Weapon-contexts producing chalal |
| G4501 ῥομφαία (rhomphaía) | "sword" | harag, chalal | Alternate sword-vocabulary (often prophetic) |
| G4172 πόλις (pólis) | "city" | miqlat, ratsach | Cities of refuge |
The LXX simplifies the Hebrew field: ratsach → phoneúō, harag → apokteínō, nakah → patássō, muwth → apothnḗskō/thanatóō, dam → haîma, chalal → nekrós. This clean mapping allows the NT's Decalogue citations (phoneúō) to reach back with lexical precision to ratsach alone.
Roles in the Concept¶
- The forbidden act (narrow): ratsach (H7523) — unlawful killing of a fellow human; the Sixth-Commandment verb
- The broader act: harag (H2026) — killing in any register; warfare, judicial execution, narrative slaying
- The blow: nakah (H5221) — the physical strike that causes death
- The outcome: muwth (H4191) — dying, being put to death; grounds the death-penalty formula môt yumat
- The victim: chalal (H2491) — the slain or pierced one (battlefield and corpse contexts)
- The evidence: dam (H1818) — shed blood calls for justice (Gen 4:10); blood-guilt attaches to the killer
- The avenger: gaʼal (H1350) — the kinsman-redeemer also functions as goʼel ha-dam, avenger of blood
- The institution: miqlat (H4733) — city of refuge, asylum for the unintentional slayer
Key Passages Where Multiple Group Words Appear Together¶
- Num 35:21 — "...smite him with his hand, that he die: he that smote him shall surely be put to death... the revenger of blood shall slay the murderer" [H7523 + H4191 + H5221 + H1818 + H1350 — five members]
- Josh 20:3 — "the slayer that killeth any person unawares... the avenger of blood" [H7523 + H5221 + H1818 + H1350 + H4733 — five members]
- Num 35:12 — "cities for refuge from the avenger; that the manslayer die not" [H7523 + H4191 + H1350 + H4733 — four members]
- Num 35:19 — "The revenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer" [H7523 + H4191 + H1818 + H1350]
- Num 35:25 — "the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the revenger of blood... unto the city of his refuge" [H7523 + H1818 + H1350 + H4733]
- Deut 19:6 — "Lest the avenger of the blood pursue the slayer" [H7523 + H5221 + H1818 + H1350]
- Exo 22:2 — "If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him" [H4191 + H5221 + H1818]
Generated from: gather_word_group_data.py (semantic_strongs.py, search_strongs.py, co-occurrence queries) Last updated: 2026-04-18