Lexicon

H1818 - dam

Strong's: H1818 · BLB lookup Pronunciation: dawm Part of speech: masculine noun Frequency: ~360 occurrences in the Hebrew Bible, concentrated heavily in the Pentateuch (esp. Leviticus, Exodus, Deuteronomy), the prophets (Ezekiel, Isaiah), and the Psalms. LXX equivalent: αἷμα (haima), the standard NT correspondent. Plural form: damim (דָּמִים), often denotes bloodguilt / bloodshed (the standing condition of being responsible for shed blood) rather than literal plural-blood.

Semantic range (Brown-Driver-Briggs)

Blood (literal), the physical fluid; the bodily life-medium.
Lifeblood / life, the vital principle of biological life, named by metonymy. Lev 17:11, "the life of the flesh is in the blood", establishes the biblical-theological identification.
Bloodshed / violent death, the act of taking life violently (esp. plural damim).
Bloodguilt, the moral-judicial condition resulting from unjust bloodshed; the standing legal liability that demands resolution.
Sacrificial blood, the covenant-cultic element used in the priestly atonement system; the medium through which covenant-relationship is established and maintained.
Wine / red juice (figurative, "blood of grapes," Gen 49:11; Deut 32:14), the deep-red color extension.

Theological force, life, atonement, covenant

Dam is one of the most theologically loaded substantives in the Hebrew Bible, serving as the central image at the intersection of three doctrines: life, atonement, and covenant.

The foundational text, Leviticus 17:11:

"For the life (nephesh) of the flesh is in the blood (dam), and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement (lekhapper) for your nepheshot; for it is the blood by reason of the nephesh that makes atonement."

This single verse establishes the entire biblical sacrificial logic:

The life-is-in-the-blood identification, biological nephesh (life-as-living-being) is carried in the blood.
The God-gave-it-on-the-altar provision, YHWH grants the blood-on-altar for atonement (the priestly-cultic transaction is given, not human invention).
The substitutionary structure, blood (life-as-medium) atones for nephesh (life-as-self); life given for life.

This is the OT-Hebrew foundation that drives every NT atonement-text. Hebrews 9:22, "without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness", is a direct citation of the Lev 17:11 logic. The cross becomes the consummating realization: Christ's blood (the life-of-the-flesh) given as the substitution for human nephesh (sin-incurring life), securing once-for-all the covenantal forgiveness the animal sacrifices typified.

The covenantal use of blood. Blood seals covenants. The Sinai covenant is ratified by blood-throwing (Ex 24:6-8, half on the altar, half on the people, with the words "behold the blood of the covenant"). The Passover blood marks the door for the death-angel's sparing (Ex 12:7, 13, 22-23). Christ's words at the Last Supper, "this is My blood of the new covenant" (Mt 26:28; Mk 14:24; Lk 22:20; 1 Cor 11:25), directly invoke and consummate the Ex 24 covenant-blood pattern.

The bloodguilt / damim tradition. Unjust shedding of dam incurs damim, bloodguilt that demands response. Cain's brother's blood "cries out from the ground" (Gen 4:10). The cities of refuge (Num 35) govern the go'el ha-dam (avenger of blood). The damim tradition undergirds the moral-judicial weight of murder, the prohibition on consumption of blood (Gen 9:4; Lev 17:10-14; Deut 12:16, 23-25), and the broader sanctity-of-life ethic.

Notable verses

The foundational text

Leviticus 17:11, "the life of the flesh is in the blood; I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement"
Leviticus 17:14, "for as for the life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its life"
Genesis 9:4-6, "you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood... whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed"
Deuteronomy 12:23, "be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life"

Sacrificial / atonement

Leviticus 1:5; 3:2; 4:5-7, 16-18, the manipulation of sacrificial blood in the burnt / peace / sin offerings
Leviticus 4:25; 16:14-19, the Day of Atonement; blood on the mercy seat
Exodus 12:7, 13, 22-23, Passover blood on the doorposts

Covenant

Exodus 24:6-8, Sinai covenant ratified by blood; "behold the blood of the covenant"
Zechariah 9:11, "as for you also, because of the blood of My covenant with you, I have set your prisoners free"

Prophetic, bloodguilt and innocent-blood

Genesis 4:10, Abel's blood "cries out from the ground"
Numbers 35:33, "blood pollutes the land, and no expiation can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it"
Isaiah 1:15, "your hands are full of blood"
Ezekiel 16:38; 18:13; 22:1-13; 33:25, bloodguilt indictments

Servant Songs

Isaiah 53:7-9, the Servant slaughtered like a lamb (the blood-implied)

NT activation

Matthew 26:28, "this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins"
Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25, parallel covenant-blood texts
Romans 3:25, "whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood"
Romans 5:9, "having now been justified by His blood"
Ephesians 1:7, "in Him we have redemption through His blood"
Ephesians 2:13, "you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ"
Colossians 1:20, "having made peace through the blood of His cross"
Hebrews 9:12, "He entered the holy place once for all by His own blood"
Hebrews 9.14, "how much more will the blood of Christ... cleanse your conscience"
Hebrews 9:22, "without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness"
1 Peter 1:18-19, "you were not redeemed with perishable things... but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ"
1 John 1.7, "the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin"
Revelation 1.5; Revelation 5:9; Revelation 7:14; Revelation 12:11, Apocalyptic blood-of-the-Lamb tradition

Patristic / scholarly note

The Lev 17:11 → Heb 9:22 line is the canonical hinge of biblical atonement theology. Justin Martyr (Dialogue with Trypho 13, 40-41) reads the OT sacrificial blood-laws as types of Christ's blood. Cyril of Alexandria (On the Worship and Service in Spirit and Truth) develops the sacrifice-typology extensively. Athanasius (De Incarnatione 9, 20-21), Christ's blood as the consummating atonement.

In modern scholarship, Leon Morris (The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, 1955; The Atonement: Its Meaning and Significance, 1983) is the standard treatment of NT haima / OT dam atonement-vocabulary. Joel B. Green & Mark Baker (Recovering the Scandal of the Cross, 2000), engagement with the modern critiques of blood-atonement theology while preserving its biblical core. Hans Boersma (Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross, 2004), engages René Girard's anthropological critique of sacrificial blood while defending the Christian theological use.

The progressive Christian critique of blood-atonement language ("cosmic child abuse") runs aground precisely on the Hebrew dam-nephesh identification. Without Lev 17:11's life-is-in-the-blood premise, the cross's "blood" language is gratuitous violence. With Lev 17:11, the blood is the life given for life, the substitutionary-life logic that the Trinitarian self-substitution of God consummates. Cf. Jesus is Not a Human Sacrifice (Defeater) for the structural defeat of the pagan-comparison charge.

Verses in this codex

See Obsidian's backlinks pane for every verse page linking here. Central anchors: Leviticus 17.11 (the foundational text), Hebrews 9:22 (the NT consummation), Genesis 9:4-6 (the Noahic blood-prohibition), Exodus 24.6-8 (Sinai covenant), Matthew 26:28 (the New Covenant institution), 1 Peter 1:18-19 (precious blood), Revelation 5:9 (eschatological blood-of-the-Lamb).