And you are not to eat any blood, either of bird or animal, in any of your dwellings.
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall not eat any blood, whether it is of bird or of animal, in any of your dwellings.
- KJV Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings.
- BSB You must not eat the blood of any bird or animal in any of your dwellings.
- NKJV Moreover you shall not eat any blood in any of your dwellings, whether of bird or beast.
- NLT No matter where you live, you must never consume the blood of any bird or animal.
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
Israel must never eat blood, whether from birds or animals, anywhere they live. The prohibition against blood applied universally in their homes.
Overview
Blood was understood as the seat of life and was reserved for atonement on the altar (Leviticus 17:11). This ban predated the law and bound all Israel everywhere. It points forward to the precious blood of Christ, which alone cleanses from sin, and which believers honor rather than treat as common.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Gen 9:4But flesh with its life, that is, its blood, you shall not eat.
- 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 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 15:20but that we write to them that they abstain from the pollution of idols, from sexual immorality, from what is strangled, and from blood.
- 1 Tim 4:4For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with thanksgiving.
- 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!”
- Ezek 33:25Therefore tell them, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: You eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood: and shall you possess the land?
- 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.”
- John 6:53Jesus therefore said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have life in yourselves.
- Eph 1:7in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 7:26 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.