Destroy every nation that the LORD your God places in your power, and do not show them any mercy. Do not worship their gods, for that would be fatal.

But do not let any of them persuade you; do not even listen to them. Show them no mercy or pity, and do not protect them.

show her no mercy; cut off her hand.

No one took enough pity on you to do any of these things for you. When you were born, no one loved you. You were thrown out in an open field.

And so, by doing what the LORD requires, you will not be held responsible for the murder.

Human beings were made like God, so whoever murders one of them will be killed by someone else.

"Any who commit murder shall be put to death,

Whoever kills an animal shall replace it, but whoever kills a human being shall be put to death.

If you did this, you would defile the land where you are living. Murder defiles the land, and except by the death of the murderer there is no way to perform the ritual of purification for the land where someone has been murdered.

Do not defile the land where you are living, because I am the LORD and I live among the people of Israel."

During David's reign there was a severe famine which lasted for three full years. So David consulted the LORD about it, and the LORD said, "Saul and his family are guilty of murder; he put the people of Gibeon to death."

Then they buried the bones of Saul and Jonathan in the grave of Saul's father Kish, in Zela in the territory of Benjamin, doing all that the king had commanded. And after that, God answered their prayers for the country.

"Do what Joab says," Solomon answered. "Kill him and bury him. Then neither I nor any other of David's descendants will any longer be held responsible for what Joab did when he killed innocent men.