The term "bloody" in the Bible often refers to acts of violence, bloodshed, or the shedding of blood, whether in the context of warfare, murder, or sacrificial rites. It is a term that carries significant weight, symbolizing both the physical act of shedding blood and the spiritual implications of sin and atonement.

Old Testament Context

In the Old Testament, the concept of blood is deeply intertwined with the covenantal relationship between God and His people. Blood is seen as the life force of a creature, as stated in Leviticus 17:11: "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life." This verse underscores the sacrificial system where the shedding of blood was necessary for the atonement of sins.

The term "bloody" is also used in the context of violence and murder. In Genesis 4:10, after Cain kills Abel, God says, "What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground." Here, the blood of Abel is a witness against Cain, highlighting the gravity of murder.

The cities of refuge, as described in Numbers 35, were established to provide sanctuary for those who committed manslaughter unintentionally. This system underscores the seriousness with which bloodshed was regarded in Israelite society.

Prophetic Literature

The prophets frequently used the imagery of blood to convey the moral and spiritual corruption of Israel and other nations. In Ezekiel 22:2-4, God accuses Jerusalem of being a "bloody city," filled with violence and idolatry: "You, son of man, will you judge? Will you judge the bloody city? Then confront her with all her abominations." This passage illustrates how bloodshed is equated with moral decay and divine judgment.

New Testament Context

In the New Testament, the shedding of blood takes on a redemptive quality through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 9:22 states, "According to the Law, in fact, nearly everything must be purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." The blood of Christ is central to the New Covenant, symbolizing the ultimate atonement for sin.

The crucifixion of Jesus is the pivotal event where His blood is shed for the salvation of humanity. In Matthew 26:28, during the Last Supper, Jesus says, "This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." This establishes the theological foundation for the belief in salvation through the blood of Christ.

Symbolism and Theology

Theologically, blood represents both life and death, purity and sin, judgment and redemption. The Bible's treatment of blood underscores the seriousness of sin and the necessity of atonement. The sacrificial system of the Old Testament foreshadows the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus, whose blood brings reconciliation between God and humanity.

In summary, the term "bloody" in the biblical context is multifaceted, encompassing themes of violence, sacrifice, judgment, and redemption. It serves as a powerful reminder of the cost of sin and the profound grace offered through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.Bloody sweat: The sign and token of our Lord's great agony (Luke 22:44). 1. (a.) Containing or resembling blood; of the nature of blood; as, bloody excretions; bloody sweat.

2. (a.) Smeared or stained with blood; as, bloody hands; a bloody handkerchief.

3. (a.) Given, or tending, to the shedding of blood; having a cruel, savage disposition; murderous; cruel.

4. (a.) Attended with, or involving, bloodshed; sanguinary; esp., marked by great slaughter or cruelty; as, a bloody battle.

5. (a.) Infamous; contemptible; -- variously used for mere emphasis or as a low epithet.

6. (v. t.) To stain with blood.

BLOODY

blud'-i (dam = "blood" of man or an animal; and where the King James translators have rendered with the adjective "bloody," the Hebrew employs the noun in the construct case, "of blood"): "A bridegroom of blood" (Exodus 4:25, 26, the King James Version bloody husband). Zipporah, not being an Israelite, probably objected to the circumcision of infants, if not to the rite altogether; apprehending, however, that her husband's life was imperiled possibly through some grievous sickness (Exodus 4:24) because of their disobedience in this particular, she performed the ceremony herself upon her son, saying, "A bridegroom of blood art thou to me."

In the Revised Version (British and American) the expression (the King James Version "bloody") is variously rendered, "man of blood" (2 Samuel 16:7, 8); "men of blood" (Psalm 26:9); "bloodthirsty" (Psalm 5:6; Psalm 59:2; Psalm 139:19). In 2 Samuel 21:1, "It is for Saul, and for his bloody house," might be rendered "Upon Saul and his house rests bloodshed."

Ezekiel calls Jerusalem "the bloody city" (Ezekiel 22:2; Ezekiel 24:6; compare Ezekiel 7:23), referring to those unjustly put to death by the wicked rulers of Jerusalem. Nineveh also is called "the bloody city" (Nahum 3:1). The capital here virtually stands for the kingdom, and history bears witness to the enormous cruelties perpetrated by the Assyrian rulers. It is siege on siege, pools of blood everywhere, the flaying of men alive, "great baskets stuffed with the salted heads of their foes." For two hundred years it is the story of brute force and ruthless cruelty. "The prey departeth not." And now every cruelty which they have visited upon others is to be turned upon themselves (Nahum 3:19).

M. O. Evans

BLOODY FLUX

fluks (puretos kai dusenteria, literally "fever and dysentery"): The disease by which the father of Publius was afflicted in Malta (Acts 28:8). the Revised Version (British and American) calls it "dysentery"; a common and dangerous disease which in Malta is often fatal to soldiers of the garrison even at the present day (Aitken, Pract. of Medicine, II, 841). It is also prevalent in Palestine at certain seasons, and in Egypt its mortality was formerly about 36 percent. Its older name was due to the discharge of blood from the intestine. Sometimes portions of the bowel become gangrenous and slough, the condition described as affecting Jehoram (2 Chronicles 21:19). There seems to have been an epidemic of the disease at the time of his seizure (2 Chronicles 21:14, 15), and in the case of the king it left behind it a chronic ulcerated condition, ending in gangrene. Somewhat similar conditions of chronic intestinal ulceration following epidemic dysentery I have seen in persons who had suffered from this disease in India.

Alex. Macalister

BLOODY SWEAT

(swet hosei thromboi haimatos): Described in Luke 22:44 as a physical accompaniment of our Lord's agony at Gethsemane (on the passage, which is absent in some manuscripts, see Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek). Many old writers take this to mean that the perspiration dropped in the same manner as clots of blood drop from a wound, regarding the Greek word prefixed as expressing merely a comparison as in Matthew 28:3, where leukon hos chion means "white as snow." Cases of actual exudation of blood are described in several of the medieval accounts of stigmatization, and Lefebvre describes the occurrence of something similar in his account of Louise Lateau in 1870. For references to these cases see the article "Stigmatization" in Encyclopedia Britannica (11th edition), XXII, 550. It is perhaps in favor of the older interpretation that the word used by Aeschylus for drops of blood is stagon (Agam. 1122) and by Euripides stalagmos, not thromboi. None of the instances given by Tissot (Traite des nerfs, 279), or Schenck (Observ. med., III, 45:5), can be said to be unimpeachable; but as the agony of our Lord was unexampled in human experience, it is conceivable that it may have been attended with physical conditions of a unique nature.

Alex. Macalister

1420. dusenterion -- dysentery
... dysentery. From dus- and a comparative of entos (meaning a bowel); a "dysentery" --
bloody flux. see GREEK dus-. see GREEK entos. (dusenterio) -- 1 Occurrence. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/1420.htm - 6k1818. dam -- blood
... root Definition blood NASB Word Usage blood (303), bloodguilt (2), bloodguiltiness
(12), bloodshed (27), bloody (7), death (1), guilt of blood (2), homicide or ...
/hebrew/1818.htm - 6k

The Bloody and Deceitful Man
... Names And Titles of the Antichrist 5. The Bloody and Deceitful Man. ... The Bloody
and Deceitful Man views the Antichrist in relation to the Jews. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/pink/the antichrist/5 the bloody and deceitful.htm

Talmage -- a Bloody Monster
... TALMAGE " A BLOODY MONSTER. A BLOODY MONSTER BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE. Thomas De Witt Talmage
was born at Bound Brook, NJ, in 1832. ... 1832"1901. A BLOODY MONSTER[1]. ...
/.../kleiser/the worlds great sermons volume 8/talmage a bloody monster.htm

"You Knew the Too Barbarous And, Beyond Measure, Bloody Ferocity ...
... Dialogues of Sulpitius Severus. Chapter IV. "You knew the too barbarous
and, beyond measure, bloody ferocity of Avitianus? "You ...
/.../severus/life and writings of sulpitius severus /chapter iv you knew the.htm

The Light which Broke Out at the Reformation, Abhorred the Bloody ...
... Address 180: The light which broke out at the reformation, abhorred the
bloody superstitious zeal of these? The light which broke ...
/.../address 180 0 0 the light which.htm

I Will not by the Noise of Bloody Wars and the Dethroning of Kings ...
... THE FIRST CENTURY 4 I will not by the noise of bloody wars and the dethroning of
kings advance you to glory: but by the gentle ways of peace and love. ...
//christianbookshelf.org/traherne/centuries of meditations/4 i will not by.htm

The Second Trumpet.
... plague, it being already laid waste as to its land, assails the sea; the third part
of which, and what belongs to it, it renders entirely bloody, by the fall ...
//christianbookshelf.org/mede/a key to the apocalypse/the second trumpet.htm

The Bible --The Background and the Picture.
... man. The ugly, wicked, licentious, and bloody things constitute the background
of the picture, representing man in all his ways. ...
/.../the biblethe background and the.htm

The Burnt Offering a Picture and a Prophecy
... His part of the work is done, and he stands by with bloody hands while the priests
arrange the pieces on the pile on the altar; and soon the odour of burning ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture k/the burnt offering a picture.htm

The King.
... a good conscience," than that awful page which tells how, godless, wretched, mad
with despair and measureless pride, he flung himself on his bloody sword, and ...
//christianbookshelf.org/maclaren/the life of david/ix the king.htm

The Life of Mr. John Welch.
... And when he had first taken up his residence in that town, the place was so divided
into factions, and filled with bloody conflicts, a man could hardly walk ...
/.../howie/biographia scoticana scots worthies/the life of mr john 5.htm

Bloody (19 Occurrences)
...Bloody sweat: The sign and token of our Lord's great agony (Luke 22:44). ... 2. (a.)
Smeared or stained with blood; as, bloody hands; a bloody handkerchief. ...
/b/bloody.htm - 17k

Bloody-flux (1 Occurrence)
Bloody-flux. Bloody, Bloody-flux. Bloom . Multi-Version Concordance
Bloody-flux (1 Occurrence). Acts 28:8 And it came ...
/b/bloody-flux.htm - 6k

Flux (26 Occurrences)
... 5. (n.) A fluid discharge from the bowels or other part; especially, an excessive
and morbid discharge; as, the bloody flux or dysentery. See Bloody flux. ...
/f/flux.htm - 16k

Sweat (3 Occurrences)
... 12. (n.) The sweating sickness. 13. (n.) A short run by a race horse in
exercise. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. BLOODY SWEAT. ...
/s/sweat.htm - 14k

Menelaus
... Meanwhile, the oppression of Lysimachus, abetted by Menelaus, caused a bloody
insurrection in Jerusalem, in connection with which a Jewish deputation brought ...
/m/menelaus.htm - 9k

Nahum (3 Occurrences)
... Nineveh was a city of vast extent, and was then the centre of the civilzation and
commerce of the world, a "bloody city all full of lies and robbery" (Nahum 3:1 ...
/n/nahum.htm - 21k

Bloom (9 Occurrences)

/b/bloom.htm - 11k

Woe (102 Occurrences)
... Ezekiel 24:6 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the bloody city, to the
caldron whose rust is therein, and whose rust is not gone out of it! ...
/w/woe.htm - 37k

Wo (92 Occurrences)
... Ezekiel 24:6 Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the bloody city, to the
caldron whose rust is therein, and whose rust is not gone out of it! ...
/w/wo.htm - 33k

Empire (8 Occurrences)
... After the bloody civil wars of 68, "the year of the four emperors," Vespasian founded
the IInd Dynasty, and dynastic succession was for the present again ...
/e/empire.htm - 80k

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