³³ “Do not defile the land where you are,^[a] for bloodshed defiles the land,^(A) and there can be no atonement for the land because of the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of the person who shed it.

Unsolved Murders

21 “If a murder victim is found lying in a field in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who killed him, ² your elders and judges must come out and measure the distance from the victim to the nearby cities. ³ The elders of the city nearest to the victim are to get a young cow that has not been yoked or used for work. ⁴ The elders of that city will bring the cow down to a continually flowing stream, to a place not tilled or sown, and they will break its neck there by the stream. ⁵ Then the priests, the sons of Levi, will come forward, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to serve Him and pronounce blessings in His name, and they are to give a ruling in^[a] every dispute and case of assault. ⁶ All the elders of the city nearest to the victim will wash their hands by the stream over the young cow whose neck has been broken. ⁷ They will declare, ‘Our hands did not shed this blood; our eyes did not see it. ⁸ Lord, forgive Your people Israel You redeemed, and do not hold the shedding of innocent blood against them.’ Then they will be absolved of responsibility for bloodshed. ⁹ You must purge from yourselves the guilt of shedding innocent blood, for you will be doing what is right in the Lord’s sight.

²⁴ to Jesus (mediator^(A) of a new covenant^(B)), and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things than the blood of Abel.^(C)

The Fifth Seal

⁹ When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the people^[a] slaughtered because of God’s word and the testimony they had.^{[b](A) 10} They cried out with a loud voice: “Lord,^[c] the One who is holy and true, how long until You judge and avenge our blood from those who live on the earth?”