Ambrose of Milan : Indeed, I will require your blood, and the blood of your souls from all beasts, and from the hand of man (Gen. IX, 5). He compared it to bestial malice, or rather even accumulated the wickedness of man beyond the ferocity of beasts, by saying: From the hand of the brother of man. Indeed, beasts have nothing in common with us in nature, and they are not bound by any brotherly right. If they harm humans, they harm them as strangers. They do not violate the laws of nature; they do not forget the bond of kinship. Therefore, a person sins more gravely if they plot against their brother. And the Lord promised that He would seek the blood of a man from the hand of his brother, saying: 'I will require the blood of a man from the hand of his brother.' Is not a brother someone whom a rational nature has brought forth from a certain womb, and the same mother's generation has joined us together? For the same nature is the mother of all humans, and therefore we are all brothers, generated from the same mother, and bound by the same right of kinship. — On Noah and the Ark, 26.94 Bede : For I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it and from man, from his fellow man I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed. For in a typological sense, lifeblood refers to that vital essence by which humans are animated, sustained, and live in the flesh through the soul, just as the hand of beasts typologically refers to the act of devouring by which they kill a man. For who in sound mind would truly believe that the blood of man pertains to the substance of the soul? Although the same legislator seems to say more clearly elsewhere: For the life of every creature is its blood (Leviticus 17:14). Thus it is said in the same way as it is said And the rock was Christ, not that it was, but that it signified. The law was not without purpose in wanting to signify the soul through the blood, that is, an invisible thing through a visible thing, except that blood, diffused through all veins from the heart itself, predominates in our body more than other fluids, so that wherever a wound may be inflicted, no other fluid but itself emerges. Thus the soul, which invisibly prevails over all that we consist of, is better signified by that which visibly prevails over all that we consist of. It is clear to understand how God seeks the soul of man from the hand of man, demanding retribution from him who has sinned; but it can indeed be reasonably asked how it is also required from beasts, which lack reason, unless perhaps we can understand here the mystery of the future resurrection intimated to us, when all the bodies of the human race, which have either been consumed by wild beasts or destroyed in any other way, or corrupted, are restored incorrupt, and all souls of humans, separated from their bodies by any manner of death, are restored to their bodies, so that they may obtain either eternal life for their good deeds, or eternal death for their bad deeds, in judgment with those same bodies. It is aptly added: — Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron) Ephrem the Syrian : God requires the blood now and in the future. He requires it now in the case of a death that he decreed for a murderer, and also a stoning with which a goring bull is to be stoned. At the end, at the time of the resurrection, God will require that animals return all they ate from the flesh of man. God said, "From the hand of a man and of his brother I will require the life of a man," just as satisfaction for the blood of Abel was required from Cain, that is, "whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed." — COMMENTARY ON Genesis 6.15.1-2 John Chrysostom : "Whoever sheds someone's blood, his own will be shed in payment for that person's blood, because I have made the human person in God's image." Consider, I ask you, how much fear he struck in them with that remark. He is saying even if you are not restrained from murderous hands by kinship or by a sense of fellowship of nature, and even if you thrust aside all brotherly feeling and become completely committed to a bloody murder, you must think twice. Consider the fact that the person has been created in God's image. Mark the degree of honor accorded him by God! Think on the fact that he has received authority over all creation. Then you will give up your murderous intent. So what does he mean? If someone has committed countless murders and shed so much blood, how can he give adequate satisfaction simply by the shedding of his own blood? Do not have these thoughts, human being that you are. Instead you do well to consider in advance that you will receive an immortal body that will have the capacity to undergo constant and everlasting punishment. — HOMILIES ON Genesis 27.15 John Damascene : Moreover, sacred Scripture, too, testifies to the fact that there will be a resurrection of the body. Indeed, God already had said to Noah after the flood, "Even as the green herbs have I delivered them all to you: saving that flesh with blood of its life you shall not eat. And I will require your blood of your lives, at the hand of every beast I will require it. And at the hand of every man I will require the life of his brother. Whosoever shall shed man's blood, for that blood his blood will be shed: for I made man to the image of God." How can he require the blood of men at the hand of every beast, unless he raises the bodies of those who die? For beasts will not die in the place of human beings. — ORTHODOX FAITH 4.27 Origen of Alexandria : And so, everything that is in the sentient flesh you can find also in the inner man. Do not doubt, then, also concerning the blood, homonymous with the sentient blood, which, like the other parts of the body, the inner man has. It is precisely this blood of which the soul of the sinner is deprived. For it is said: "The blood of your souls will be required." It is not said "your blood," but "the blood of your souls." — DIALOGUE WITH HERACLIDES