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manslayer

Boyd’s Bible Dictionary:

The involuntary manslayer found escape in a city of refuge

(Num. 35:22-23²²But if he thrust him suddenly without enmity, or have cast upon him any thing without laying of wait, ²³Or with any stone, wherewith a man may die, seeing him not, and cast it upon him, that he die, and was not his enemy, neither sought his harm: (Numbers 35:22‑23); Deut. 19:5⁵As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbor to hew wood, and his hand fetcheth a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree, and the head slippeth from the helve, and lighteth upon his neighbor, that he die; he shall flee unto one of those cities, and live: (Deuteronomy 19:5)).

Concise Bible Dictionary:

The words φονεύς, ἀνθρωποκτόνος, and σικάριος are all translated ‘murderer.' φονεύω, the kindred verb to φονεύς (from φόνος, ‘murder') is employed in the LXX in the commandment "Thou shalt not kill," and is repeated in the N. T. This shows that it embraces ‘murder' in general, and those guilty of it are ‘murderers,' Matt. 22:7⁷But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. (Matthew 22:7); 1 Pet. 4:15¹⁵But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. (1 Peter 4:15). Barabbas was a murderer, and the people of Israel were the murderers of Jesus. Acts 3:14; 7:52; 28:4¹⁴But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; (Acts 3:14)
⁵²Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: (Acts 7:52)
⁴And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. (Acts 28:4).

ἀνθρωποκτόνος. (from ἄνθρωππς, ‘man,' and κτείνω, ‘to slay' agrees more with our word ‘man-slayer,' and is applied when murder may not have been committed. "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him." 1 John 3:15¹⁵Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. (1 John 3:15). The devil "was a murderer [mansleer, Wickliffe] from the beginning." John 8:44⁴⁴Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. (John 8:44). This word serves to bring into contrast the slaying of MAN, and eternal life for man through our Lord Jesus Christ.

σικάιος (the Latin sicarius) is so called from sica, a short dagger or poniard. There was a secret society called Sicarii, the members of which carried daggers under their garments, and killed any who opposed them. Perhaps ‘assassin' is the best equivalent. It occurs only in Acts 21:38³⁸Art not thou that Egyptian, which before these days madest an uproar, and leddest out into the wilderness four thousand men that were murderers? (Acts 21:38).

Strong’s Dictionary of Greek Words:

Number:

409 (find all occurrences in KJV Bible)

Greek:

ἀνδροφόνος

Transliteration:

androphonos

Phonic:

an-drof-on’-os

Meaning:

from 435 and 5408; a murderer

KJV Usage:

manslayer