When Herod ¹  had searched ²  for him and did not find him, he questioned ³  the guards and commanded that they be led away to execution. ⁴  Then ⁵  Herod ⁶  went down from Judea to Caesarea ⁷  and stayed there.

Two other criminals ¹  were also led away to be executed with him.

The witnesses ¹  must be first to begin the execution, and then all the people ²  are to join in afterward. In this way you will purge evil from among you.

Deliver me ¹  from the sword! Save ²  my life ³  from the claws ⁴  of the wild dogs!

But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed.

But if a man willfully attacks his neighbor to kill him cunningly, ¹  you will take him even from my altar that he may die.

So the whole community took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, ¹  just as the Lord commanded Moses.

Moreover, you must not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death; he must surely be put to death.

Instead, you must kill him without fail! ¹  Your own hand must be the first to strike him, ²  and then the hands of the whole community.

Obadiah ¹  said, “What sin have I committed that you are ready to hand your servant over to Ahab for execution? ² 

Because of this the king got furiously angry ¹  and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.

So a decree went out, and the wise men were about ¹  to be executed. They also sought ²  Daniel and his friends so that they could be executed.

Then Daniel went in to see ¹  Arioch (whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon). He came ²  and said to him, “Don’t destroy the wise men of Babylon! Escort me ³  to the king, and I will disclose the interpretation to him!” ⁴ 

The elders of his own city must send for him and remove him from there to deliver him over to the blood avenger ¹  to die.

He went to Samaria and exterminated all the members of Ahab’s family who were still alive in Samaria, ¹  just as the Lord had announced to Elijah. ² 

And all the exiles of Judah who are in Babylon will use them as examples when they put a curse on anyone. They will say, “May the Lord treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab whom the king of Babylon roasted to death in the fire!” ¹ 

Then Daniel spoke with prudent counsel ¹  to Arioch, who was in charge of the king’s executioners and who had gone out to execute the wise men of Babylon.

And Saul agreed completely with killing ¹  him.Now on that day a great ²  persecution began ³  against the church in Jerusalem, ⁴  and all ⁵  except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions ⁶  of Judea and Samaria.

And that is what I did in Jerusalem: Not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons by the authority I received ¹  from the chief priests, but I also cast my vote ²  against them when they were sentenced to death. ³ 

“You must not pollute the land where you live, for blood defiles the land, and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed there, except by the blood of the person who shed it.