“Your Hands are Full of Blood!” Cries God. By Dr. Chapman Chen

Three passages in the Old Testament, namely, Hosea 4:1-19, Isaiah 1:11-17, and Isaiah 59:1-18, denounce humanity for having hands full of blood. On the surface, these texts condemn ritual animal sacrifice and corrupt society; at a deeper level, they expose human violence against animals in general.

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1. Hosea and the Cry of the Land

Hosea speaks of a world where lying, murder, stealing, and adultery abound, and where “bloodshed follows bloodshed” (Hos. 4:2). The result is ecological collapse: “Because of this the land dries up, and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea are swept away” (Hos. 4:3). Here human sin is inseparable from the destruction of nonhuman life.

2. Isaiah against Sacrifice

Isaiah likewise records God’s disgust with sacrificial worship: “I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats… Stop bringing meaningless offerings!… Your hands are full of blood!” (Isa. 1:11–15). What is paraded as worship is, in fact, violence. Later Isaiah reiterates: “For your hands are stained with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters injustice” (Isa. 59:3).

In the narrower sense, God here condemns blood sacrifices as detestable and meaningless. But in the broader sense, these passages anticipate the industrial-scale massacre of animals in modern agriculture.

3. The Animal Holocaust

Since 1500 AD, at least 680 vertebrate species have been driven to extinction by human activity, according to the UN IPBES (2019). The IUCN Red List confirms 881 extinctions, though countless more vanish unnoticed. Today, about one million species face extinction due to deforestation, climate change, overfishing, pollution, and the exploitation of animals. The UN Convention on Biological Diversity estimates that up to 150 species are lost every day. Meanwhile, over three trillion animals—on land and in the seas—are slaughtered annually for human consumption. Humanity’s hands are literally drenched in blood. Australian animal rights advocate Tash Peteron (2023) rightly calls this an on-going “holocaust” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfHweMRwaa0).

4. Lies and Empty Pleas

Isaiah laments that “no one calls for justice; no one pleads his case honestly… they rely on empty pleas; they tell lies” (Isa. 59:4). Animals, having no legal standing, cannot plead their case in court. Animal welfare laws fail to recognise their right to life, reducing them to property. Industries mask violence with soothing words like “humane,” “necessary,” or “normal.” As Hosea condemns “lying and murder,” so too these industries rest on deception.

Tash Peterson (2022) voices the prophetic truth: “If you’re not vegan, you’re an animal abuser. The meat, dairy, egg, honey, leather, wool, fur, feather, scale, racing and animal entertainment industries subject nonhuman people to rape, enslavement, torture, abuse and murder. Their blood is on your hands if you’re not vegan. These industries have brainwashed you and lied to you.” (https://www.facebook.com/vganbooty/videos/1125358828045459). Her words mirror Isaiah’s vision of bloodstained hands and fingers steeped in iniquity.

5. The Call to Repentance

Yet Isaiah’s voice, like Peterson’s, is not only one of condemnation but of invitation: “Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed” (Isa. 1:16–17). To wash the blood from our hands is to defend the innocent, the weak and the downtrodden, to seek justice for them, to reject lies that excuse exploitation, and to embrace compassion and peace.

Concretely, this means living without harming nonhuman creatures—what today we call veganism. If people refuse to repent, Isaiah warns, God will repay them according to their deeds (Isa. 59:18) and sweep them away with a whirlwind (Hos. 4:19). But if humanity turns, the covenant of life can be renewed, and the blood can finally be washed from our hands. #VeganChrist #VeganGod #VeganTheology #VeganChurch