What does the Bible say about the life of the unborn?
Scripture describes the unborn as God's own workmanship, known and written in His book before a single day had passed: a neighbor, not raw material. It calls the blood of children innocent, and it forbids human hands to shed it. It also refuses to hide that God claims the right over life and death for Himself, which is why the case against taking an unborn life rests on the worth of the child rather than on a claim about what God would never do.
This question arose from studying Why does every human life have dignity and worth?.
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What the Scripture says
Knitted together in the womb
The psalmist is not describing a candidate for personhood; he is describing himself. 'For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb,' and then, 'Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.' Job reasons from the same ground when he pleads that servant and master share one Maker: 'Didn't one fashion us in the womb?' Jeremiah is told the call reached him before he drew breath: 'Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. Before you came out of the womb, I sanctified you.' And the New Testament has no vocabulary of potential. When Elizabeth greets Mary, 'the baby leaped in my womb for joy.'
For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb.For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him? Didn’t one fashion us in the womb?Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?
“Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. Before you came out of the womb, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
God calls that blood innocent
The Bible's plainest words about killing children are not ambiguous, and they are not softened. Recounting Israel's idolatry, the psalm says, 'They shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters.' Proverbs puts the same crime among the things Yahweh hates: 'hands that shed innocent blood.' And God does not treat the victims as someone else's property to dispose of. Through Ezekiel He says of the children sacrificed to idols, 'you have slain my children,' and through Jeremiah He denies that the practice ever came from Him: 'which I didn't command, nor did it come into my mind.' Whatever the water of bitterness turns out to mean, it cannot be turned into a warrant for what God here calls the shedding of innocent blood.
They shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted with blood.And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.
haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood;A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
that you have slain my children, and delivered them up, in causing them to pass through the fire to them?That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?
They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I didn’t command, nor did it come into my mind.And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart.
Numbers 5 is a case about an accusation
Notice first what the passage does not say: it never mentions a child. The case it describes is a husband who suspects and cannot prove, where a man has lain with her 'and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband,' so that 'there is no witness against her.' The law explicitly covers the possibility that the suspicion is false: 'or if the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife, and she isn't defiled.' The offering is the cheapest grain offering the Torah allows, 'the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal,' with no oil and no frankincense, because this is a plea for a verdict rather than a feast. And the verdict in favor of the innocent woman is stated in the language of fertility: 'then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.' The curse is the exact mirror of that blessing. The stakes the text names are her capacity to bear children, not the life of a child it never names.
and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and is kept close, and she is defiled, and there is no witness against her, and she isn’t taken in the act;And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manner;
and the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife, and she is defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife, and she isn’t defiled:And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled:
then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring her offering for her: the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal. He shall pour no oil on it, nor put frankincense on it, for it is a meal offering of jealousy, a meal offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to memory.Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.
If the woman isn’t defiled, but is clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.
It takes the case out of the husband's hands
Whatever the ordeal means, its direction is plain: it takes judgment away from the man who feels wronged. 'The priest shall bring her near, and set her before Yahweh,' not before her accuser. He may not pronounce her guilty, may not punish her, and does not carry out the sentence. He pays for an offering that gains him nothing, and the case becomes God's. The verdict even closes with a word about him: 'The man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.' Two things should be said plainly rather than excused. The law is asymmetric, since only a wife can be brought to the water, and it is public, with her hair let loose and an oath spoken over her. It is a hard text in a hard world. It is also a restraint: it refuses the husband the private vengeance that came naturally to his neighbors.
The priest shall bring her near, and set her before Yahweh;And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord:
then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring her offering for her: the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal. He shall pour no oil on it, nor put frankincense on it, for it is a meal offering of jealousy, a meal offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to memory.Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.
The priest shall set the woman before Yahweh, and let the hair of the woman’s head go loose, and put the meal offering of memorial in her hands, which is the meal offering of jealousy. The priest shall have in his hand the water of bitterness that brings a curse.And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord, and uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse:
The man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.’”Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.
God claims the right over life and death
Here the honest answer has to become uncomfortable. Scripture never says that God leaves the lives of the young alone. He says of Himself, 'I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal,' and Hannah sings, 'Yahweh kills, and makes alive.' At the flood God says, 'I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground,' and the account is unsparing: 'All flesh died that moved on the earth.' In Egypt, 'Yahweh struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt.' Nathan tells David that 'Yahweh struck the child that Uriah's wife bore to David.' When Korah rebels, 'The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households.' Any argument that begins by denying this can be refuted from the Bible in a single verse, and it does not need to be made. The prohibition on murder is not a limit on God's freedom over life; it is a command He gave to us.
“See now that I myself am he. There is no god with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
“Yahweh kills, and makes alive. He brings down to Sheol, and brings up.The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up.
Yahweh said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground—man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky—for I am sorry that I have made them.”And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
All flesh died that moved on the earth, including birds, livestock, animals, every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man.And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:
At midnight, Yahweh struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of livestock.And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.
Nathan departed to his house. Yahweh struck the child that Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it was very sick.And Nathan departed unto his house. And the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.
The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households, all of Korah’s men, and all their goods.And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods.
The law that counts the child, and the hands it binds
The passage that actually speaks to this question is in the case law, and it counts the child: 'If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely,' the offender is fined if no further harm follows, but 'if any harm follows, then you must take life for life.' The law prices a life at a life. And the command that protects it is given to human hands, on a ground that is not ours to claim: 'Whoever sheds man's blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image.' Scripture shows what that looks like when the powerful order otherwise. Pharaoh commanded the Hebrew boys to be killed, but 'the midwives feared God, and didn't do what the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the baby boys alive,' and God dealt well with them. The same distinction holds at the cross, the one event Scripture attributes to two kinds of hands at once: 'being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed.' God gave the life, and the men who took it were guilty.
“If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, and yet no harm follows, he shall be surely fined as much as the woman’s husband demands and the judges allow.If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine.
But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life,And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood will be shed by man, for God made man in his own image.Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
But the midwives feared God, and didn’t do what the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the baby boys alive.But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.
God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty.Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.
As you read, you may wonder…
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How can I understand hard passages in the Bible?→The Word of God trail“It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter.”Why did God test Abraham with Isaac?→The Fathers trail“Abraham said, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they both went together.And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.”What does the flood show us about God's judgment and mercy?→In the Beginning trail“Yahweh saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was continually only evil. Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart.And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”We haven't written this one yet. Take it to your church or small group: the Word answers it wherever it is asked. If we study it here later, all the better.
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Verses to meditate on
For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
They shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. The land was polluted with blood.And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood.
If the woman isn’t defiled, but is clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.
“See now that I myself am he. There is no god with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
“If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, and yet no harm follows, he shall be surely fined as much as the woman’s husband demands and the judges allow. But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life,If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
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