But flesh with its life, that is, its blood, you shall not eat.
Parallel translations
- KJV But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
- BSB But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it.
- NKJV But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.
- NASB But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.
- NLT But you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it.
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
God forbids eating flesh with its lifeblood still in it. Reverence for life, symbolized by the blood, is commanded.
Overview
By prohibiting the eating of blood, God teaches that life belongs to him and is to be treated with reverence. This principle underlies the later sacrificial laws, where blood makes atonement, and it stresses the sacredness of life. Ultimately it points to the precious blood of Christ, shed to give life to his people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Deut 12:23Only be sure that you don’t eat the blood; for the blood is the life. You shall not eat the life with the meat.
- Deut 12:16Only you shall not eat the blood. You shall pour it out on the earth like water.
- Deut 15:23Only you shall not eat its blood. You shall pour it out on the ground like water.
- 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.
- Lev 7:26You shall not eat any blood, whether it is of bird or of animal, in any of your dwellings.
- Lev 17:10–14“‘Any man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live as foreigners among them, who eats any kind of blood, I will set my face against that soul who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people.
- Acts 15:29that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality, from which if you keep yourselves, it will be well with you. Farewell.”
- Lev 3:17“‘It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings, that you shall eat neither fat nor blood.’”
- Lev 19:26“‘You shall not eat any meat with the blood still in it. You shall not use enchantments, nor practice sorcery.
- 1 Sam 14:33–34Then they told Saul, saying, “Behold, the people are sinning against Yahweh, in that they eat meat with the blood.” He said, “You have dealt treacherously. Roll a large stone to me today!”
- 1 Tim 4:4For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with thanksgiving.
- 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.
- Acts 15:25it seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose out men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 9:4 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
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