שֹׁפֵךְ֙ דַּ֣ם הָֽאָדָ֔ם בָּֽאָדָ֖ם דָּמֹ֣ו יִשָּׁפֵ֑ךְ כִּ֚י בְּצֶ֣לֶם אֱלֹהִ֔ים עָשָׂ֖ה אֶת־הָאָדָֽם׃ (Genesis 9:6)
Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood shall be shed; for in the image of God He made man.
Genesis 9:6 stands as one of the most profound declarations in the Torah. Its concise grammar establishes both a principle of justice and a theological rationale rooted in the doctrine of the image of God. The verse blends participial construction, word order, and parallelism to craft a statement that is at once legal, poetic, and theological. This lesson will unpack its morphology and syntax to show how Hebrew grammar intensifies meaning.
The Participial Clause: שֹׁפֵךְ דַּם הָאָדָם
The verse begins: שֹׁפֵךְ דַּם הָאָדָם — “One who sheds the blood of man.”
- שֹׁפֵךְ: Qal participle ms of שׁפך, “to pour, shed.” The participle here functions as a legal subject: “whoever sheds.”
- דַּם הָאָדָם: construct phrase, “the blood of man.”
The use of the participle instead of a finite verb universalizes the statement. It does not narrate a past event but defines a standing principle: anyone engaged in the act of shedding blood falls under this rule.
The Judicial Consequence: בָּאָדָם דָּמוֹ יִשָּׁפֵךְ
The second clause declares: בָּאָדָם דָּמוֹ יִשָּׁפֵךְ — “by man his blood shall be shed.”
- בָּאָדָם: prepositional phrase, “by man,” marking agency.
- דָּמוֹ: “his blood,” noun with 3ms suffix referring back to the perpetrator.
- יִשָּׁפֵךְ: Nifal imperfect 3ms of שׁפך, “to be shed.” The passive voice conveys inevitability: his blood will be shed.
The mirrored root שׁפך ties crime and consequence together: shedding leads to being shed. The symmetry of verb forms creates poetic justice in grammatical structure itself.
The Causal Clause: כִּי בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים
The rationale follows with a causal clause: כִּי בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים עָשָׂה אֶת־הָאָדָם — “for in the image of God He made man.”
- כִּי: conjunction, “for/because.”
- בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים: prepositional phrase, “in the image of God.”
- עָשָׂה: Qal perfect 3ms of עשה, “He made.”
- אֶת־הָאָדָם: accusative phrase, “man.”
The clause grounds the principle of justice in theology: human life is sacred because humanity reflects the divine image. Grammar binds ethics and theology together—cause (כִּי) followed by consequence (the sanctity of life).
Parsing Table of Key Forms
| Form | Parsing | Literal Sense | Grammatical Insight |
|---|---|---|---|
| שֹׁפֵךְ | Qal participle ms | “one who sheds” | Participial clause functions as legal subject |
| דַּם הָאָדָם | Construct phrase | “blood of man” | Defines object of prohibition |
| יִשָּׁפֵךְ | Nifal imperfect 3ms | “shall be shed” | Passive inevitability, expresses consequence |
| בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים | Prepositional phrase + noun in construct | “in the image of God” | Theological rationale encoded in grammar |
| עָשָׂה | Qal perfect 3ms | “He made” | Grounds prohibition in divine creation |
Syntax and Poetic Justice
The verse is arranged chiastically: “shedding blood → by man → blood shed.” This mirrors crime and punishment. Hebrew grammar employs symmetry to enact justice in poetic form. The structure itself communicates inevitability and reciprocity: violence invites its own recompense.
Masoretic Rhythm
The accents divide the verse into three cola: (1) the participial subject (שֹׁפֵךְ דַּם הָאָדָם), (2) the consequence (בָּאָדָם דָּמוֹ יִשָּׁפֵךְ), (3) the rationale (כִּי בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים עָשָׂה אֶת־הָאָדָם). This cadence builds logic step by step: act, judgment, reason.
The Echo of the Image
Genesis 9:6 demonstrates how Hebrew grammar enshrines ethics in poetic brevity. The participial form universalizes the principle, the mirrored verb establishes poetic justice, and the causal clause roots it in theological anthropology. Syntax, morphology, and rhythm combine to affirm the sacredness of human life. For the student of Biblical Hebrew, this verse is a model of how grammar and theology converge: law and poetry, justice and creation, bound together in a single sentence.