¹⁹ Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder^(A) and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?”

²¹ The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”

⁹ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”^(A)

“I don’t know,^(B)” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

¹⁷ “‘This is a lasting ordinance^(A) for the generations to come,^(B) wherever you live:^(C) You must not eat any fat or any blood.^(D)’”

²⁶ And wherever you live, you must not eat the blood^(A) of any bird or animal. ²⁷ Anyone who eats blood^(B) must be cut off from their people.’”

¹⁰ “‘I will set my face against any Israelite or any foreigner residing among them who eats blood,^(A) and I will cut them off from the people. ¹¹ For the life of a creature is in the blood,^(B) and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life.^{[a](C) 12} Therefore I say to the Israelites, “None of you may eat blood, nor may any foreigner residing among you eat blood.”

¹³ “‘Any Israelite or any foreigner residing among you who hunts any animal or bird that may be eaten must drain out the blood and cover it with earth,^{(D) 14} because the life of every creature is its blood. That is why I have said to the Israelites, “You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off.”^(E)

²⁰ Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols,^(A) from sexual immorality,^(B) from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.^(C)