“You must be my holy people. Therefore, do not eat any animal that has been torn up and killed by wild animals. Throw it to the dogs.
Parallel translations
- WEB “You shall be holy men to me, therefore you shall not eat any meat that is torn by animals in the field. You shall cast it to the dogs.
- KJV And ye shall be holy men unto me: neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the dogs.
- BSB You are to be My holy people. You must not eat the meat of a mauled animal found in the field; you are to throw it to the dogs.
- NKJV “And you shall be holy men to Me: you shall not eat meat torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.
- NASB “You shall be holy people to Me, therefore you shall not eat any flesh torn to pieces in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
As holy people, Israel must not eat meat torn by wild animals but cast it to the dogs. Holiness shapes even ordinary matters of diet.
Overview
Being set apart for God meant maintaining ritual purity, including avoiding flesh not properly drained of blood. This practical holiness marked Israel as distinct and devoted to the Lord. The call to be holy because God is holy is answered in Christ, who sanctifies His people and makes them a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ezek 4:14Then I said, “Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, my soul has not been polluted; for from my youth up even until now I have not eaten of that which dies of itself, or is torn of animals; neither came there abominable meat into my mouth!”
- Lev 19:2“Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘You shall be holy; for I, Yahweh your God, am holy.
- 1 Pet 1:15–16but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior;
- Lev 22:8That which dies of itself, or is torn by animals, he shall not eat, defiling himself by it. I am Yahweh.
- Deut 14:21You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself. You may give it to the foreigner living among you who is within your gates, that he may eat it; or you may sell it to a foreigner; for you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
- Ezek 44:31The priests shall not eat of anything that dies of itself, or is torn, whether it is bird or animal.
- Acts 15:20but that we write to them that they abstain from the pollution of idols, from sexual immorality, from what is strangled, and from blood.
- Acts 10:14But Peter said, “Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.”
- Lev 20:25“‘You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean fowl and the clean: and you shall not make yourselves abominable by animal, or by bird, or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have separated from you as unclean for you.
- Lev 11:44–45For I am Yahweh your God. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any kind of creeping thing that moves on the earth.
- Lev 17:15–16“‘Every person that eats what dies of itself, or that which is torn by animals, whether he is native-born or a foreigner, he shall wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the evening: then he shall be clean.
- Exod 19:5–6Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine;
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 22:31 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.