Monday, January 04, 2010

How many has God killed?

I kill ... I wound ... I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh. -- Deuteronomy 32:39-42
How many people did God kill in the Bible?

It's impossible to say for sure, but plenty. How many did God drown in the flood or burn to death in Sodom and Gomorrah? How many first-born Egyptians did he kill? There's just no way to count them all.

But sometimes the Bible tells us exactly how many were killed by God. Here's a list of those that I can find. (If you find any that I've missed, let me know and I'll add them to the list.)

So far I come up with a total of 2,391,421 (not including, at least in some cases, women and children).


SAB, Brick Testament Number Killed Cumulative Total
Lot's wife for looking back Gen.19:26, BT 1 1
Er who was "wicked in the sight of the Lord" Gen.38:7, 1 Chr.2:3, BT 1 2
Onan for spilling his seed Gen.38:10, BT 1 3
Pharaoh and 600 chariot captains (plus his entire army) Ex.14:8-26 601+ 604+
For dancing naked around Aaron's golden calf Ex.32:27-28, 35, BT 3000 3604+
Aaron's sons for offering strange fire before the Lord Lev.10:1-3, Num.3:4, 26:61, BT 2 3606+
A blasphemer Lev.24:10-23, BT 1 3607+
A man who picked up sticks on the SabbathNum.15:32-36, BT 1 3608+
Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (and their families) Num.16:27, BT 12+ 3620+
Burned to death for offering incense Num.16:35, 26:10, BT 250 3870+
For complaining Num.16:49, BT 14,700 18,570+
For "committing whoredom with the daughters of Moab" Num.25:9, BT 24,000 42,570+
Midianite massacre (32,000 virgins were kept alive) Num.31:1-35, BT 90,000+ 132,570+
God tells Joshua to stoned to death Achan (and his family) for taking the accursed thing. Joshua 7:10-12, 24-26, BT 5+ 132,575+
God tells Joshua to attack Ai and do what he did to Jericho (kill everyone). Joshua 8:1-25, BT 12,000 144,575+
Joshua kills 5 kings and hangs their dead bodies on trees Joshua 10:24-26, BT 5 144,580+
God delivered Canaanites and Perizzites Judges 1:4, BT 10,000 154,580+
Ehud delivers a message from God: a knife into the king's belly Jg.3:15-22, BT 1 154,581+
God delivered Moabites Jg.3:28-29, BT 10,000 164,581+
God forces Midianite soldiers to kill each other. Jg.7:2-22, 8:10, BT 120,000 284,581+
The Spirit of the Lord comes on Samson Jg.14:19, BT 30 284,611+
The Spirit of the Lord comes mightily on Samson Jg.15:14-15, BT 1000 285,611+
Samson's God-assisted act of terrorism Jg.16:27-30, BT 3000 288,611+
"The Lord smote Benjamin" Jg.20:35-37, BT 25,100 313,711+
More Benjamites Jg.20:44-46 25,000 338,711+
For looking into the ark of the Lord 1 Sam.6:19 50,070 388,781+
God delivered Philistines 1 Sam.14:12 20 388,801+
Samuel (at God's command) hacks Agag to death 1 Sam.15:32-33 1 388,802+
"The Lord smote Nabal." 1 Sam.25:38 1 388,803+
Uzzah for trying to keep the ark from falling 2 Sam.6:6-7, 1 Chr.13:9-10 1 388,804+
David and Bathsheba's baby boy 2 Sam.12:14-18 1 388,805+
Seven sons of Saul hung up before the Lord 2 Sam.21:6-9 7 388,812+
From plague as punishment for David's census (men only; probably 200,000 if including women and children) 2 Sam.24:15, 1 Chr.21:14 70,000+ 458,812+
A prophet for believing another prophet's lie 1 Kg.13:1-24 1 458,813+
Religious leaders killed in prayer contest 1 Kg.18:22-40 450 459,263+
God delivers the Syrians into the Israelites' hands 1 Kg.20:28-29 100,000 559,263+
God makes a wall fall on Syrian soldiers 1 Kg.20:30 27,000 586,263+
God sent a lion to eat a man for not killing a prophet 1 Kg.20:35-36 1 586,264+
Ahaziah is killed for talking to the wrong god. 2 Kg.1:2-4, 17, 2 Chr.22:7-9 1 586,265+
Burned to death by God 2 Kg.1:9-12 102 586,367+
God sends two bears to kill children for making fun of Elisha's bald head 2 Kg.2:23-24 42 586,409+
Trampled to death for disbelieving Elijah 2 Kg.7:17-20 1 586,410+
Jezebel 2 Kg.9:33-37 1 586,411+
God sent lions to kill "some" foreigners 2 Kg.17:25-26 3+ 586,414+
Sleeping Assyrian soldiers 2 Kg.19:35, Is.37:36 185,000 771,414+
Saul 1 Chr.10:14 1 771,415+
God delivers Israel into the hands of Judah 2 Chr.13:15-17 500,000 1,271,415+
Jeroboam 2 Chr.13:20 1 1,271,416+
"The Lord smote the Ethiopians." 2 Chr.14:9-14 1,000,000 2,271,416+
God kills Jehoram by making his bowels fall out 2 Chr.21:14-19 1 2,271,417+
Judean soldiers 2 Chr.28:6 120,000 2,391,417+
Ezekiel's wife Ezek.24:15-18 1 2,391,418+
Ananias and Sapphira Acts 5:1-10 2 2,391,420+
Herod Acts 12:23, BT 1 2,391,421+

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