Genesis 9
After the flood the lord tells Noah and his sons that the animals will fear mankind – this suggests that before the flood the animals may have treated men as simply other animals, walking freely among them (like our deer do up in this area). He also tells them that animals who shed the blood of man are under condemnation – he will require them to account for the blood of man that they shed. He also tells Noah that man may use the mat of animals for food, but should not eat flesh with blood – this may mean that it must be cooked, or it may mean that they are not to devour living things, as some predators do. He also explicitly says that any man (or beast probably) who kills a man will have his blood shed by man – this says to me that it is absolutely appropriate (even desirable) to employ capital punishment for intentional murder.
This chapter also contains the European excuse for the keeping of black slaves.
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