for the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible.
Parallel translations
- WEB For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life.
- KJV For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
- BSB For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for your souls upon the altar; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.
- NKJV For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.’
- NASB For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’
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
Life is in the blood, which God gave on the altar to make atonement, the heart of why blood is sacred.
Overview
This pivotal verse explains the whole logic of sacrifice: atonement is made by life given in place of life, represented by blood on the altar. It teaches that forgiveness requires a substitute and that God himself provides the means. The New Testament builds directly on this truth, declaring that without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness, fulfilled in Jesus' atoning death.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Heb 9:22According to the law, nearly everything is cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.
- 1 Jn 1:7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
- Rom 3:25whom God sent to be an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God’s forbearance;
- Rev 1:5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood;
- Mark 14:24He said to them, “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many.
- Gen 9:4But flesh with its life, that is, its blood, you shall not eat.
- Col 1:14in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins;
- Matt 26:28for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins.
- Eph 1:7in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
- Heb 13:12Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside of the gate.
- Lev 17:14For as to the life of all flesh, its blood is with its life: therefore I said to the children of Israel, “You shall not eat the blood of any kind of flesh; for the life of all flesh is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off.”
- Lev 8:15He killed it; and Moses took the blood, and put it around on the horns of the altar with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured out the blood at the base of the altar, and sanctified it, to make atonement for it.
- Lev 16:11“Aaron shall present the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bull of the sin offering which is for himself.
- 1 Pet 1:2according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, that you may obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
- 1 Jn 2:2And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.
- Col 1:20and through him to reconcile all things to himself, by him, whether things on the earth, or things in the heavens, having made peace through the blood of his cross.
- Rom 5:9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him.
- Matt 20:28even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
- Lev 16:14–19He shall take some of the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east; and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.
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Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 17:11 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.