But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it.
Parallel translations
- WEB But flesh with its life, that is, its blood, you shall not eat.
- KJV But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
- 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 not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.
- Deut 12:16but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.
- Deut 15:23But you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.
- Acts 15:20Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.
- Lev 7:26You must not eat the blood of any bird or animal in any of your dwellings.
- Lev 17:10–14If anyone from the house of Israel or a foreigner living among them eats any blood, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from among his people.
- Acts 15:29You must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.
- Lev 3:17This is a permanent statute for the generations to come, wherever you live: You must not eat any fat or any blood.”
- Lev 19:26You must not eat anything with blood still in it. You must not practice divination or sorcery.
- 1 Sam 14:33–34Then someone reported to Saul: “Look, the troops are sinning against the LORD by eating meat with the blood still in it.” “You have broken faith,” said Saul. “Roll a large stone over here at once.”
- 1 Tim 4:4For every creation of God is good, and nothing that is received with thanksgiving should be rejected,
- Deut 14:21You are not to eat any carcass; you may give it to the foreigner residing within your gates, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a holy people belonging to the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
- Acts 15:25So we all agreed to choose men to send to you along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
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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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