Blood (as that which when shed causes death) of man or an animal; by analogy, the juice of the grape; figuratively (especially in the plural) bloodshed (i.e. drops of blood)
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דָּם is the OT's word for blood in all its theological dimensions — life, death, covenant, and atonement. ' The logic is precise: because blood is life, the shedding of blood is the giving of life in substitution.
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Full entry for דָּם (H1818) · Open the biblical lexicon
דָּם is the OT's word for blood in all its theological dimensions — life, death, covenant, and atonement. ' The logic is precise: because blood is life, the shedding of blood is the giving of life in substitution.
The BSB source-word alignment has 360 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include blood (58), the blood (57), of blood (18), his blood (12), of bloodshed (11).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Genesis 4:10. Its strongest book concentrations include Leviticus (88), Ezekiel (55), Exodus (29), Deuteronomy (23).
דָּם is the OT's word for blood in all its theological dimensions — life, death, covenant, and atonement. Lev 17:11 is the load-bearing verse: 'the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.' The logic is precise: because blood is life, the shedding of blood is the giving of life in substitution.
The animal's life is given in place of the worshiper's. This is why the prohibition on eating blood (Lev 17:14; Deut 12:23) is so strict — blood belongs to God because life belongs to God. The covenant-blood at Sinai (Exod 24:8, Moses sprinkling the people: 'Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you') shows the other dimension: דָּם does not only deal with sin, it seals relationship.
The same substance that atones also binds. This dual function explains the NT's use of Christ's blood: it is simultaneously the ransom that deals with sin (Heb 9:14) and the new covenant seal (Luke 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25).
דָּם appears about 361 times in the local Hebrew index across every major corpus of the OT. Leviticus and Ezekiel are the densest theological concentrations. Genesis 4 and 9 are the foundational ethical uses. Exodus 12 and 24 are the covenant pivots. The Psalms and prophets deploy both the blood-guilt and the atonement registers.
For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for your souls upon the altar; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.
The OT's definitive atonement-theology statement. Three claims in one verse: (1) blood = life; (2) God gives it (not the worshiper invents it); (3) it works by the life it carries. The substitution logic is explicit: the animal's life (blood) given at the altar stands in place of the worshiper's life. Lev 17:11 is the foundation on which Heb 9:22 ('without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness') rests.
“What have you done?” replied the Lord. “The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.
The first mention of דָּם after the fall. Shed blood has a voice — it cries to God. This is the foundation of OT blood-guilt ethics: the blood of the murdered calls for justice, and God hears it. Heb 12:24 contrasts Abel's blood that 'cries for vengeance' with Jesus' blood that 'speaks a better word' — the same framework, the same voice, a different word.
The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a sign; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will fall on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
The Passover pivot: blood as protective sign. YHWH does not say 'when I see the Israelites' but 'when I see the blood.' The identification is total — the household sheltered under the blood is protected; those outside it are not. 1 Cor 5:7 ('Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed') reads the NT believer as sheltered under this same logic.
So Moses took the blood, splattered it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
Blood sealing the Sinai covenant. Half the blood is thrown on the altar (God's side); half on the people (Israel's side) — the covenant is ratified in דָּם. Jesus' words at the Last Supper ('this cup is the new covenant in my blood,' Luke 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25) are a deliberate echo: the new covenant is sealed in the same way the old was, with blood, but now His own.
Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood will be shed; for in His own image God has made mankind.
The Noahic law grounding the prohibition on murder in the image of God. דָּם here is not sacrificial but ethical: to shed human blood is to attack the image of God. This is the basis for OT blood-guilt law (Num 35; Deut 19) — murder requires a reckoning because the blood of the image-bearer cries to God.
As for you, because of the blood of My covenant, I will release your prisoners from the waterless pit.
The blood of the covenant (Exod 24) invoked centuries later as the ground for divine deliverance. The covenant sealed in דָּם at Sinai has ongoing efficacy — God's commitment to Israel is blood-bound. The NT reads Zech 9 messianically (Matt 21:5 quotes v.9); the blood-of-the-covenant language in v.11 flows directly into Luke 22:20.
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Hebrew word. Blood as life-force whose shedding marks covenant, atonement, and culpability before God throughout scripture
Blood as life-force whose shedding marks covenant, atonement, and culpability before God throughout scripture
blood (as that which when shed causes death) of man or an animal; by analogy, the juice of the grape; figuratively (especially in the plural) bloodshed (i.e. drops of blood) BDB: blood Usage: blood(-y, -guiltiness, (-thirsty), innocent.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 2 selected witnesses from 361 lexical occurrence verses.
The imagery conveys the severity of divine judgment. Hosea 4:1-3
Violence violating covenant law. Isaiah 15:1-9
Greek words that correspond to or develop the meaning of this Hebrew word in the New Testament.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Heb 12:24 is the pastoral key: Jesus' blood 'speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.' Abel's blood cried for justice — vengeance against the murderer. Jesus' blood speaks something different: forgiveness for the murderer. Both bloods have a voice; both are heard by God. The difference is not that justice is set aside but that the Son's blood has satisfied what Abel's blood demanded.
The cross is not where justice ends and mercy begins — it is where they meet. Preaching on dam should not strip the word of this weight: something irreplaceable was poured out, and it speaks.
Lev.17.11
The plural דָּמִים (bloods) is consistently the word for bloodshed, blood-guilt, or murders — distinct from the singular דָּם (blood as substance or life). Ps 5:6 ('the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man') and Ezek 22:3-6's catalogue of Jerusalem's sins both use the plural. This plural-for-bloodguilt convention means that when the OT speaks of atoning blood it uses the singular; when it speaks of moral condemnation for violence it uses the plural.
The NT αἷμα carries this same range but the Greek does not make the singular/plural distinction as systematically.
The OT trajectory: Gen 4:10 (Abel's blood cries) → Gen 9:6 (blood-guilt grounds image-of-God ethics) → Exod 12:13 (blood as sign of protection) → Exod 24:8 (blood sealing the covenant) → Lev 17:11 (blood as the atonement instrument) → Zech 9:11 (blood of the covenant invoked for deliverance) → NT: Luke 22:20 (new covenant in my blood) → Heb 9:14 (blood of Christ cleanses conscience) → Heb 12:24 (blood of Jesus speaking a better word) → Rev 1:5 (freed from sins by his blood). The word דָּם is the thread running from creation's first murder to the new creation's Lamb who was slain.
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