Bible Strands
1 Kings 2:31
And the king replied, “Do just as he says. Strike him down and bury him, and so remove from me and from the house of my father the innocent blood that Joab shed.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The king addresses Benaiah after receiving Joab’s refusal to leave the tabernacle, ordering the execution and burial of Joab. (1 Kings 2:30-31)
The words — The verbs עֲשֵׂה ('a.Seh, "do") and וַ/הֲסִירֹ֣תָ (va./ha.si.Ro.ta, "and you will remove") structure the command to execute Joab and cleanse the royal house from guilt.
The thread — The order to remove shed blood corresponds to the land-pollution statutes in Numbers 35:33 and Deuteronomy 21:8, while the royal execution mirrors the mandate in Exodus 21:14 against those who scheme to kill.
Why it lands — The text explicitly commands immediate compliance with justice and states that unatoned innocent blood remains a liability on the ruler and his lineage until removed.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the king said unto him, Do as he hath said, and fall upon him, and bury him; that thou mayest take away the innocent blood, which Joab shed, from me, and from the house of my father.
Cross-references
- Numbers 35:33 Do not pollute the land where you live, for bloodshed pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land on which the blood is shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.
- Deuteronomy 21:8 Accept this atonement, O LORD, for Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, and do not hold the shedding of innocent blood against them.” And the bloodshed will be atoned for.
- Exodus 21:14 But if a man schemes and acts willfully against his neighbor to kill him, you must take him away from My altar to be put to death.
- 2 Samuel 3:28 Afterward, David heard about this and said, “I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the LORD concerning the blood of Abner son of Ner.
- Proverbs 28:17 A man burdened by bloodguilt will flee into the Pit; let no one support him.
- Genesis 9:5 And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man:
- Deuteronomy 19:12 the elders of his city must send for him, bring him back, and hand him over to the avenger of blood to die.
- 2 Kings 9:26 ‘As surely as I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday, declares the LORD, so will I repay you on this plot of ground, declares the LORD.’ Now then, according to the word of the LORD, pick him up and throw him on the plot of ground.”
- Acts 28:4 When the islanders saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “Surely this man is a murderer. Although he was saved from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”