Captivity and the Sword

"Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed" (Gen 9:6), and Torah fixes the measure, life for life, eye for eye (Exod 21:23-25). Jeremiah frames the sentence in matched pairs: "such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity" (Jer 15:2). Obadiah states the rule plainly: "as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee" (Obad 1:15). Revelation 13:10 is not fatalism but covenant accountability: the oppressor's violence is measured back to him. Meanwhile "the just shall live by his faith" (Hab 2:4); the righteous endure by faithfulness, not by immediate deliverance, and the patience of the saints rests on that sentence.