Crime

Crime, in the scriptural witness, is not catalogued as a single offense but as a constellation of acts named in lists. Prophets indict whole cities; apostles enumerate the works of the flesh; the Decalogue numbers off the headings under which particular crimes fall. The same offenses recur — bloodshed, theft, adultery, false speech, profanity — and the threat that follows them is steady: each deed returns on the head of the one who did it.

The Catalog of Crimes

The pattern of enumeration runs through the prophets and the apostles. Hosea opens the case as a covenant lawsuit: "Hear the word of Yahweh, you⁺ sons of Israel; for Yahweh has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land" (Hos 4:1). The bill of particulars follows in the next verse: "Swearing, lying, killing, stealing, and committing adultery are rampant; and blood is everywhere" (Hos 4:2).

Ezekiel's indictment of Jerusalem reads as an itemized list. The city has "despised my holy things, and profaned my Sabbaths" (Ezek 22:8); slanderous men shed blood in her, and "in the midst of you they have committed lewdness" (Ezek 22:9). Sexual offenses follow — uncovered nakedness of fathers, incest with daughter-in-law and sister, adultery with the fellow man's wife (Ezek 22:10-11). Then bribery and extortion: "In you they have taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your fellow men by oppression, and have forgotten me, says the Sovereign Yahweh" (Ezek 22:12). The princes of the city are "like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, [and] to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain" (Ezek 22:27). The prophets seal it with lying oracles (Ezek 22:28). "The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery; yes, they have vexed the poor and needy, and have oppressed the sojourner wrongfully" (Ezek 22:29). Yahweh sought a man "that should build up the wall, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none" (Ezek 22:30).

Jesus traces the same catalog inward, to its source: "For from inside, out of the heart of men, evil thoughts proceed, whoring, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, wickednesses, deceit, sexual depravity, an evil eye, railing, pride, foolishness" (Mr 7:21-22).

Paul gives the longest enumerations. Romans 1 begins with the divine giving-up — "Therefore God delivered them up in the desires of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies should be shamed among themselves" (Ro 1:24) — and proceeds: "being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, unmerciful: who, knowing the ordinance of God, that those who participate in such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also give their approval to those who participate in them" (Ro 1:29-32). Galatians names the same field "the works of the flesh": "whoring, impurity, sexual depravity, idolatry, witchcraft, enmities, strife, jealousy, wraths, factions, divisions, parties, envyings, drunkenness, revelings, and things similar to these; of which I forewarn you⁺, even as I did forewarn you⁺, that those who participate in such things will not inherit the kingdom of God" (Ga 5:19-21). The Corinthian boundary-list is shorter and sharper: "I wrote to you⁺ not to associate with any man who is named a brother if he is a whore, or greedy, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; do not even eat with such a one" (1Co 5:11).

The Decalogue is the brief form of all of these. Paul gathers it into one summary in Romans: "For this, You will not commit adultery, You will not kill, You will not steal, You will not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, namely, You will love your fellow man as yourself" (Ro 13:9).

Bloodshed and Murder

The prohibition is terse: "You will not kill" (Ex 20:13). Its ground is given in Genesis: "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man will his blood be shed: For in the image of God he made man" (Gen 9:6). The penalty is stated three times in the Mosaic code. "He who strikes a man, so that he dies, will surely be put to death" (Ex 21:12). "And a man who strikes any soul of man, will surely be put to death" (Lev 24:17). "If he struck him with an instrument of iron, so that he died, he is a murderer: the murderer will surely be put to death... Moreover you⁺ will take no ransom for the soul of a murderer, who is guilty of death; but he will surely be put to death" (Num 35:16, 35:31). Deuteronomy adds intent: "But if any man hates his fellow man, and lies in wait for him, and rises up against him, and strikes him in the soul so that he dies, and he flees into one of these cities" (Deut 19:11). Proverbs records the result: "[A] man who is laden with the blood of a soul Will flee to the pit; let no man uphold him" (Prov 28:17).

The examples begin with Cain. "And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him" (Gen 4:8). Jacob's curse on Simeon and Levi recalls a later instance: "O my soul, don't come into their council; To their assembly, my glory, don't be united; For in their anger they slew a man, And in their self-will they hocked an ox" (Gen 49:6). Pharaoh ordered the death of the Hebrew sons (Ex 1:16). Abimelech "slew his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, being seventy persons, on one stone" (Judg 9:5). Doeg the Edomite "slew on that day eighty-five persons who wore a linen ephod" (1 Sam 22:18). Absalom commanded the killing of Amnon: "when Amnon's heart is merry with wine; and when I say to you⁺, Strike Amnon, then kill him; don't be afraid; haven't I commanded you⁺?" (2 Sam 13:28). Ahab's men, on Jezebel's orders, suborned witnesses to stone Naboth (1 Ki 21:13). King Joash had Zechariah "stoned with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the house of Yahweh" (2 Chr 24:21).

The same pattern recurs in the Maccabean histories. "Her infants are murdered in the streets, And her young men have fallen by the sword of the enemies" (1Ma 2:9). Bacchides "took many of those who had fled away from him, and some of the people he killed, and threw them into a great pit" (1Ma 7:19). Zabdiel the Arabian "took off Alexander's head" (1Ma 11:17). Tryphon "treacherously slew" the young king Antiochus (1Ma 13:31), and earlier slew Jonathan at Bascama (1Ma 13:23). Ptolemy struck down Simon and his sons at the banquet at Dok (1Ma 16:16, 16:21).

Sirach traces the inner motive: "Do not harden your forehead with one who is given to anger; And do not ride with him in the way. For blood is as nothing in his eyes; And where there is none to deliver, he will destroy you" (Sir 8:16). The adversary "with his lips... tarries; But with his heart, he considers deep pits" (Sir 12:16). And the metaphor extends to economic violence: "He slays his neighbor who takes away his [means of] living, And a shedder of blood is he who deprives the hired worker of his wages" (Sir 34:26-27).

The New Testament internalizes the prohibition. "Whoever hates his brother is a murderer: and you⁺ know that any murderer does not have eternal life staying in him" (1 Jn 3:15). The apostolic boundary stays unchanged: "let none of you⁺ suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evildoer, or as a meddler in other men's matters" (1 Pet 4:15).

The Manslayer and Refuge

The Mosaic law distinguishes deliberate killing from accidental killing by appointing cities of refuge for the manslayer. "Then you⁺ will appoint yourselves cities to be cities of refuge for you⁺, that the manslayer who strikes any soul unintentionally may flee there" (Num 35:11). "That the manslayer might flee there, who slays his fellow man unawares, and did not hate him in time past; and that fleeing to one of these cities he might live" (Deut 4:42). Deuteronomy lays out the road: "You will prepare for yourself the way, and divide the borders of your land, which Yahweh your God causes you to inherit, into three parts, that every manslayer may flee there" (Deut 19:3). Joshua repeats the provision when the cities are assigned: "that the manslayer who strikes any soul unintentionally [and] unawares may flee there: and they will be to you⁺ for a refuge from the avenger of blood" (Josh 20:3). Wilful murder is treated differently: refuge is named for the unintentional slayer, while the deliberate murderer is given over to death (Num 35:31).

Theft and Robbery

"You will not steal" (Ex 20:15). The crime spans casual taking of property to organized banditry. Achan's confession at Jericho gives the typical inner motion: "when I saw among the spoil a goodly Babylonian mantle, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, look, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it" (Josh 7:21). Rachel "stole the talismans that were her father's" (Gen 31:19), and Laban's accusation echoes back at Jacob: "why have you stolen my gods?" (Gen 31:30). Hosea gathers the offenses into a single line: "Swearing, lying, killing, stealing, and committing adultery are rampant; and blood is everywhere" (Hos 4:2).

Robbery is theft pursued by force. Amos describes its institutionalization in elite households: "For they don't know to do right, says Yahweh, who stores up violence and robbery in their palaces" (Amos 3:10). Ezekiel's people of the land "have used oppression, and exercised robbery; yes, they have vexed the poor and needy, and have oppressed the sojourner wrongfully" (Ezek 22:29). The thief works in the dark: "In the dark they dig through houses: They shut themselves up in the daytime; They don't know the light" (Job 24:16). The men of Shechem "set ambushers for him on the tops of the mountains, and they robbed all who came along that way by them" (Judg 9:25). The traveller in Jesus' parable "fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead" (Lu 10:30).

Sirach connects theft to the deeper crime of slander: "Do not be called double-tongued; And with your tongue do not slander a friend. For a thief, shame was created; And reproach for the friend of the double-tongued" (Sir 5:14).

The remedy in the apostolic writings is restitution and labor: "Let him who stole steal no more: and even better, let him labor, working with his own hands the thing that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need" (Eph 4:28). Slaves are charged "not purloining, but showing all good fidelity; that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things" (Tit 2:10). And the wider field of property — even what looks like minor latitude — is bounded: "When you come into your fellow man's vineyard, then you may eat your fill of grapes according to the pleasure of your soul; but you will not put any in your vessel" (Deut 23:24).

Adultery

"You will not commit adultery" (Ex 20:14). The Mosaic penalty is death for both parties: "And the man who commits adultery with another man's wife--who commits adultery with his fellow man's wife--the adulterer and the adulteress will surely be put to death" (Lev 20:10). Job sketches the typical concealment: "The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, Saying, No eye will see me: And he disguises his face" (Job 24:15). Romans 7:3 traces the legal definition through the marriage bond.

The apostolic boundary excludes adulterers from the kingdom: "Or don't you⁺ know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Don't be deceived: neither whores, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals" (1 Cor 6:9). Second Peter describes the inner habit: "having eyes full of adultery, and that can't cease from sin; enticing unstedfast souls; having a heart exercised in greed; sons of cursing" (2 Pet 2:14).

Sirach's extended counsel is one of the longest sustained treatments. The opening warnings concern association: "Do not come near to a strange woman; Or else you will fall into her snares" (Sir 9:3); "Do not sleep with a female musician; Or else distracting admiration will burn you" (Sir 9:4); "Do not give your soul to a prostitute; Or else you will turn away your inheritance" (Sir 9:6); "Do not taste with her husband; And do not turn away with him drinking. Or else you will incline your heart to her; And your blood will incline to destruction" (Sir 9:9). The adulterer's interior monologue mirrors Job's: "[There is] a man who goes astray from his own bed, And says in his soul: 'Who sees me? Darkness is around me, and the walls hide me, And no man sees me, of what shall I be afraid? The Most High does not remember my sins.'" (Sir 23:18). The wife who breaks the bond "is disobedient to the law of the Most High, Second, she trespasses against her own husband, Third, she commits adultery through her fornication, And brings in children by a stranger" (Sir 23:23; cf. Sir 23:22). Sirach hates "the poor man who is arrogant and the rich man who is deceitful, And an old man who is an adulterer" (Sir 25:2). The whoredom of a woman shows "in the lifting up of her eyes" (Sir 26:9), and the adulterous heart "sits down at every tent peg, And opens her quiver to any arrow" (Sir 26:12). Shame is named about "a father and a mother of whoredom, Of a prince and ruler of lies" (Sir 41:17), about "looking upon a woman who is a whore, Of gazing on a woman who has a husband" (Sir 41:21), about "being busy with his maid, And of violating her bed" (Sir 41:22), and about "the old man occupied with whoredom" (Sir 42:8). The father's anxiety for the daughter runs through every stage of her life — virginity, betrothal, marriage, and the house of her husband (Sir 42:9-10). Solomon's own fall is summed up in the verdict: "you brought a blemish upon your honor, And defiled your bed, So as to bring wrath upon your children" (Sir 47:20).

Speech Crimes: Blasphemy, Profanity, False Witness

The Decalogue includes two crimes of the tongue. "You will not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain; for Yahweh will not hold innocent anyone who takes his name in vain" (Ex 20:7), and "You will not bear false witness against your fellow man" (Ex 20:16).

Blasphemy is the deliberate reviling of God or holy things. "And you⁺ will not swear by my name falsely, and [thus] you profane the name of your God: I am Yahweh" (Lev 19:12). The first capital case is the son of Shelomith, "and the son of the Israeli woman blasphemed the name, and cursed; and they brought him to Moses" (Lev 24:11). Sennacherib's officers blaspheme through Rabshakeh — "his slaves spoke yet more against Yahweh God, and against his slave Hezekiah" (2 Chr 32:16) — and Sirach recalls the same scene: "In his days Sennacherib came up, And sent Rabshakeh, Who stretched forth his hand against Zion, And blasphemed God in his pride" (Sir 48:18). The little horn of Daniel "will speak words against the Most High" (Dan 7:25); the beast of Revelation has "on his heads a name of blasphemy" (Rev 13:1); "and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they did not repent of their works" (Rev 16:11). Isaiah names the same crime at the high places: "your⁺ own iniquities, and the iniquities of your⁺ fathers together, says Yahweh, who have burned incense on the mountains, and blasphemed me on the hills" (Isa 65:7). Hymenaeus and Alexander were delivered to Satan "that they might be taught not to blaspheme" (1 Tim 1:20). The Maccabean writer counts the blasphemies "that were done in Judah, and in Jerusalem" (1Ma 2:6) and names them again at the prayer before Adasa: "Be avenged of this man, and his army, and let them fall by the sword: remember their blasphemies, and do not give them a dwelling place" (1Ma 7:38). The prayer recalls precedent: "O Lord, when those who were sent by King Sennacherib blasphemed you, an angel went out, and slew of them a hundred and eighty-five thousand" (1Ma 7:41). Reviling Jesus falls under the same heading: "And many other things they spoke against him, reviling him" (Lu 22:65), and the charge against him from his opponents — "By Beelzebul the prince of the demons he casts out demons" (Lu 11:15) — is itself blasphemous, "because they said, He has an unclean spirit" (Mr 3:30). James asks: "Don't they blaspheme the honorable name by which you⁺ are called?" (Jas 2:7).

Profanity is broader — the careless or sworn invocation of God's name. James's rule narrows the apostolic field: "But above all things, my brothers, don't swear, neither by the heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath: but let your⁺ yes be yes, and your⁺ no, no; that you⁺ may not fall under judgment" (Jas 5:12).

Cursing parents is a capital crime. "And he who curses his father or his mother, will surely be put to death" (Ex 21:17). "For any man who curses his father or his mother will surely be put to death: he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood will be on him" (Lev 20:9). Mark recalls the same Mosaic ruling: "For Moses said, Honor your father and your mother; and, He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him die the death" (Mr 7:10). Proverbs follows: "Whoever curses his father or his mother, His lamp will be put out in the middle of the night" (Prov 20:20); "There is a generation who curse their father, And do not bless their mother" (Prov 30:11). Cursing in general is a habitual mark of the wicked: their mouth "is full of cursing and deceit and oppression" (Ps 10:7); they speak "cursing and lying" (Ps 59:12); the man who "loved cursing... it came to him" (Ps 109:17). Romans gathers the type into the indictment: "Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness" (Ro 3:14). Sirach adds: "When the ungodly curses his adversary He curses his own soul" (Sir 21:27). "Curse the whisperer and the double-tongued, For he has destroyed many who were at peace" (Sir 28:13). "One praying, and another cursing, To whose voice will the Master listen?" (Sir 34:29). And the apostolic counter-rule turns curse into blessing: "bless those who curse you⁺, pray for those who despitefully use you⁺" (Lu 6:28). "Bless those who persecute you⁺; bless, and do not curse" (Ro 12:14). "Out of the same mouth comes forth blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so" (Jas 3:10). Even the king is not to be reviled, "no, not in your thought... for a bird of the heavens will carry the voice" (Eccl 10:20). Shimei's cursing of David at Bahurim is the model example: "Begone, begone, you man of blood, and base fellow" (2 Sam 16:5-8), as is Goliath, who "cursed David by his gods" (1 Sam 17:43). And the witness of an honest heart: "for oftentimes also your own heart knows that you yourself likewise have cursed others" (Eccl 7:22).

False witness is the courtroom face of the same family of crimes. "You will not take up a false report: don't put your hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness" (Ex 23:1). "If an unrighteous witness rises up against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing" (Deut 19:16). Proverbs returns to the theme repeatedly: "A false witness who utters lies, And he who sows discord among brothers" (Prov 6:19); "He who utters truth shows forth righteousness; But a false witness, deceit" (Prov 12:17); "A false witness will not be unpunished; And he who utters lies will perish" (Prov 19:9); "Don't be a witness against your fellow man without cause; And do not deceive with your lips" (Prov 24:28); "A man who bears false witness against his fellow man Is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow" (Prov 25:18). Sirach groups false witness with slander as more dreadful than death: "Of three things my heart is afraid, And concerning a fourth I am in great fear: Slander in the city, an assembly of the multitude, And a false accusation; worse than death are they all" (Sir 26:5). The trial of Jesus is the most pointed New Testament instance: "For many bore false witness against him, and their witness didn't agree together" (Mr 14:56).

The Habitual Practice of Evil

Beyond the named offenses, scripture marks a pattern of life given to crime. The phrase recurs in Kings and Judges: "the sons of Israel did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh" (Judg 2:11; cf. Judg 3:7, 4:1, 6:1, 10:6, 13:1). The same formula stamps reign after reign of the kings — "he did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin with which he made Israel to sin" (1 Ki 15:26; cf. 1 Ki 14:22, 16:7, 2 Ki 8:27, 13:2, 14:24, 15:9-28, 17:2, 21:2, 23:32, 24:9). The post-exilic confession sums it up: "But after they had rest, they did evil again before you; therefore you left them in the hand of their enemies" (Neh 9:28). Isaiah's portrait of evildoers is sharper: "everyone is profane and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly" (Isa 9:17); "the seed of evildoers will not be named forever" (Isa 14:20); Yahweh "will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of those who work iniquity" (Isa 31:2); "you⁺ did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I did not delight" (Isa 65:12). The Psalmist's plea is to be cut off from such company: "Depart from me, you⁺ evildoers, That I may keep the commandments of my God" (Ps 119:115); "Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity?" (Ps 94:16). The face of Yahweh "is against those who do evil, To cut off the remembrance of them from the earth" (Ps 34:16); "evildoers will be cut off; But those who wait for [the Speech of] Yahweh, they will inherit the land" (Ps 37:9).

The activity is industrious. "Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their paths" (Isa 59:7). "Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they do it, because it is in the power of their hand" (Mic 2:1). "Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently; the prince asks, and the judge [is ready] for a reward; and the great man, he utters the evil desire of his soul: thus they weave it together" (Mic 7:3). Proverbs sketches the same temperament: "For they don't sleep, except they do evil; And their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall" (Prov 4:16); "A heart that devises wicked purposes, Feet that are swift in running to mischief" (Prov 6:18). Romans condenses it: "Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes" (Ro 3:15-18). Sirach observes: "From a spark, a charcoal increases; And [from] a worthless man, he lies in wait for blood" (Sir 11:32). Saul's pre-conversion zeal is named in the same register: "I persecuted the church of God, and made havoc of it" (Gal 1:13; cf. Phil 3:6). The church meets its adversary in the same shape: "Be sober, be watchful: your⁺ adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Pet 5:8). Even busybody disorder belongs in the apostolic catalog of disorderly life: tattlers and busybodies who walk "from house to house" (1 Tim 5:13) and disorderly walkers who "don't work at all, but are busybodies" (2 Th 3:11) — and finally the rule "let none of you⁺ suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evildoer, or as a meddler in other men's matters" (1 Pet 4:15).

The Maccabean histories show evildoers in concentrated form: "evils were multiplied in the earth" (1Ma 1:9); "there came out of them a wicked root, Antiochus Epiphanes" (1Ma 1:10); "they placed there a sinful nation, wicked men, and they fortified themselves in it" (1Ma 1:34); "many of the people were gathered to those who had forsaken the law: and they committed evils in the land" (1Ma 1:52); "those who disturbed the people resorted to him, and they got the land of Judah into their power, and did much hurt in Israel" (1Ma 7:22); "concerning the evils that Demetrius the king has done against them" (1Ma 8:31). Mattathias's sons "slew the sinners in their wrath, And the wicked men in their indignation" (1Ma 2:44); Judas "pursued the wicked and sought them out, And those who troubled his people he burned" (1Ma 3:5); "the host of the wicked went up with him, strong helpers, to be revenged of the sons of Israel" (1Ma 3:15).

Recompense

Crime is met by recompense. The principle is laid down in the Decalogue itself: Yahweh visits "the iniquity of the fathers on the sons, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me" (Ex 20:5). The principle is not deferred: "in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin on them" (Ex 32:34). Deuteronomy: "and repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him who hates him, he will repay him to his face" (Deut 7:10). Hebrews: "every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward" (Heb 2:2); "we know him who said, Vengeance belongs to me, I will recompense. And again, The Lord will judge his people" (Heb 10:30).

The shape of the recompense is recursive: the deed returns. "His mischief will return on his own head, And his violence will come down on the top of his own head" (Ps 7:16). "Their sword will enter into their own heart, And their bows will be broken" (Ps 37:15). "For the day of Yahweh is near on all the nations: as you have done, it will be done to you; your dealing will return on your own head" (Obad 1:15). Ezekiel turns it three times: "I will bring your ways on you, and your disgusting behaviors will be in the midst of you" (Ezek 7:4); "I will bring their way on their head" (Ezek 9:10); "I will bring their way on their own heads" (Ezek 11:21). Isaiah: "I will punish the world for [its] evil, and the wicked for their iniquity" (Isa 13:11); "Yahweh comes forth out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also will disclose her blood, and will no more cover her slain" (Isa 26:21); "I will not keep silent, but will recompense, yes, I will recompense into their bosom" (Isa 65:6). Jeremiah: "I will punish you⁺ according to the fruit of your⁺ doings" (Jer 21:14). Hosea: "The days of visitation have come, the days of recompense have come" (Hos 9:7). Zephaniah: "I will search Jerusalem with lamps; and I will punish the men who are settled on their lees" (Zeph 1:12). David's adultery and the murder of Uriah meet the same form: "Now therefore the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife" (2 Sam 12:10).

The historical examples close the loop. Adoni-bezek confesses: "Seventy kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered [their food] under my table: as I have done, so God has repaid me" (Judg 1:7). Joab's blood for Abner's blood: "And Yahweh will return his blood on his own head, because he fell on two men more righteous and better than he, and slew them with the sword" (1 Ki 2:32). Jehu against Ahab's house: "Surely I have seen yesterday the blood of Naboth, and the blood of his sons, says Yahweh; and I will repay you in this plot [of ground]" (2 Ki 9:26). Haman, hanged on the gallows he prepared for Mordecai (Est 7:10), and his sons after him: "his wicked plot, which he had plotted against the Jews, should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows" (Est 9:25). Sirach summarizes the principle in four maxims: "Afterwards he will rise up and recompense them, And retribution he will bring upon their own head" (Sir 17:23); "He who casts a stone on high casts it upon his own head, And a deceitful blow apportions wounds to the deceiver" (Sir 27:25); "He who digs a pit will fall into it, And he who sets a snare will be taken in it" (Sir 27:26); "He who does evil things, they will roll back upon him, And he will not know from where they came to him" (Sir 27:27).

The apostolic writings press the same principle forward to the day of judgment. "To those who are factious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, [will be] wrath and indignation" (Ro 2:8). "It is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to those who afflict you⁺" (2 Th 1:6); the unjust "will pay a penalty of eternal destruction away from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might" (2 Th 1:9). "The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment to the day of judgment" (2 Pet 2:9). "Of how much sorer punishment, do you⁺ think, he will be judged worthy, who has trodden under foot the Son of God" (Heb 10:29). Jesus's own word on the slave who knew his lord's will is brief: he "will be beaten with many [stripes]" (Lu 12:47). And Proverbs gives the proportion: "Look, the righteous will be recompensed in the earth: How much more the wicked and the sinner!" (Prov 11:31).