– Retribution, retaliation that was part of the culture of the Semites, could be summarized in the penalty of retaliation, that is, the same damage caused to another was applied to a person:
Exodus 21:24 : An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot.
– Jewish law provided for several sanctions against the author of murder, blows and wounds:
Ex 21,12-35 : Anyone who mortally wounds a man will be put to death.
Lev 17 :4 : Without presenting it at the entrance to the tent of meeting to offer it to the Lord […], he will be guilty of the blood offered.
Lev 20,9-27 : Whoever curses his father or mother will be punished with death.
Ez 3,18.20 : If I say to the malevolent that he is going to die, and you do not forewarn him […] he will perish because of his crime.
Ez 33,4-5 : Anyone who listens to its sound without paying attention to it, and then the sword comes to destroy him.
– To which the close relatives of the victim were obliged:
Deut 24:16 : Parents shall not die for their children, nor children for their parents. Each will die for his own sin.
Judg 8,18-19 : What were those men like that you killed on Tabor?
2 Kings 14:5 : As soon as his reign was established, he had all his servants put to death, who had murdered his father the king.
1Mk 9,38-39 : They remembered the blood of their brother John and withdrew to the mountain, where they hid.
2Sam 3:27 : When Abner arrived in Hebron, Joab took him by himself into the gate, […] and there he killed him.
2Sm 14,7-8 : Give us the fratricide, that we may kill him in punishment for the blood of the brother he killed.
– Over time, the various cases with or without aggravated situations began to be submitted to the authorities, with the help of witnesses:
Deut 19,1-7 : You shall sacrifice to the Lord your God, in a paschal sacrifice, large and small cattle.
Ex 21,12-13.18-25 : Anyone who mortally wounds a man will be killed.
Numbers 35:12,30 : They will serve as refuge for you against the avenger of blood, so that the murderer will not be killed.
Jos 20,1-9 : Separate for yourselves cities of refuge […] so that the murderer may take refuge in them.
Jos 21,13-38 : To the sons of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron and its suburbs, the city of refuge for the murderer.
1Kings 1:50 : Adonijah, fearing Solomon, also got up and went to embrace himself with the horns of the altar.
1Chr 6:42 : The city of refuge, Hebron, Lebna and their surroundings was therefore given to the sons of Aaron.
– Although this was the Law:
Gn 9,5-6 : I will ask every animal for your blood on account of your souls; and to the man (who kills) his brother.
Leviticus 24:17 : Anyone who mortally wounds a man will be put to death.
– Little by little the mercy of God forbidding revenge was revealed:
Leviticus 19:18 : Thou shalt not avenge; thou shalt not bear a grudge against the children of thy people. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
Deut 32:35 : Vengeance and retaliation belong to me, for the moment your foot slips.
Ps 93,1 : Lord, God of justice, God of vengeance, appear in your splendor.
Pr 20,22 : Do not say: “I will take revenge!”. Put your hope in the Lord, he will save you.
Pr 24:29 : Do not say: “I will do to him what he did to me, I will repay this man according to his deeds”.
Pr 25,21-22 : Is your enemy hungry? Feed him. Are you thirsty? Give him a drink.
Eclo 10,6 : Do not remember any injustice caused by your neighbor, do nothing for an unjust procedure.
Is 35,4 : He comes to execute vengeance. Behold, God’s retribution comes: he himself comes to save you.
Jr 50.15 : Thus is the chastisement of the Lord. Take revenge on her by doing what she did.
Ez 25,15-16 : Since the Philistines had taken revenge, […] and in their inveterate hatred they sought to destroy everything.
Na 1,2 : The Lord is a jealous and avenging God, the Lord is an irascible avenger.
Mt 5,38-39 : An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth […] If someone strikes you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well.
Rom 12:19-20 : Beloved, do not take revenge on one another, but allow the wrath of God to act.
Heb 10:30 : For we know who said, Vengeance is mine; I will exercise it (Dt 32,35).
– See REDEEMER.
