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.
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
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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
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.