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23 (A)But make sure that you do not eat of the blood; for blood is life; you shall not eat that life with the flesh. 24 Do not eat of the blood, therefore, but pour it out on the ground like water. 25 Do not eat of it, that you and your children after you may prosper for doing what is right in the sight of the Lord. 26 However, any sacred gifts or votive offerings that you may have, you shall bring with you to the place which the Lord chooses, 27 and there you must sacrifice your burnt offerings, both the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord, your God; of your other sacrifices the blood indeed must be poured out against the altar of the Lord, your God,(B) but their flesh you may eat.

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23 Only, you must not eat of its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.

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(A)Only meat with its lifeblood still in it you shall not eat.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 9:4 Because a living being dies when it loses most of its blood, the ancients regarded blood as the seat of life, and therefore as sacred. Jewish tradition considered the prohibition against eating meat with blood to be binding on all, because it was given by God to Noah, the new ancestor of all humankind; therefore the early Christian Church retained it for a time (Acts 15:20, 29).

17 This shall be a perpetual ordinance for your descendants wherever they may dwell. You shall not eat any fat or any blood.[a](A)

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Footnotes

  1. 3:17 Any fat or any blood: this prohibition is mentioned here because portions of this offering could be eaten by lay Israelites, who may not be entirely familiar with the prohibition (cf. 7:22–27; 19:26). The fat prohibited is only the visceral fat mentioned in 3:9–10, 14–15, not muscular fat.

10 (A)As for anyone, whether of the house of Israel or of the aliens residing among them, who consumes any blood, I will set myself against that individual and will cut that person off from among the people, 11 since the life of the flesh is in the blood,(B) and I have given it to you to make atonement[a] on the altar for yourselves, because it is the blood as life that makes atonement. 12 That is why I have told the Israelites: No one among you, not even a resident alien, may consume blood.

13 Anyone hunting,[b] whether of the Israelites or of the aliens residing among them, who catches an animal or a bird that may be eaten, shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth,(C) 14 since the life of all flesh is its blood. I have told the Israelites: You shall not consume the blood of any flesh. Since the life of all flesh is its blood, anyone who consumes it shall be cut off.

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Footnotes

  1. 17:11 To make atonement: this is probably to be understood in the context of liability for shedding animal blood (cf. v. 4). Placing the blood on the altar exonerates the slaughterer from guilt for the killing. See note on 16:6.
  2. 17:13 Hunting: game animals are not permitted as offerings. One nonetheless has to treat the blood of these animals carefully by covering it with earth. Cf. Dt 12:16, 24.

26 Do not eat anything with the blood still in it.(A) Do not recite charms or practice soothsaying.[a](B)

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Footnotes

  1. 19:26 Recite charms…soothsaying: methods of divination (cf. Gn 44:5, 15; Is 2:6; Ez 21:26–28). Legitimate means of learning the future or God’s will were through the Urim and Thummim stones (see Lv 8:8), lots (see Lv 16:8) and prophets (cf. Dt 18:9–22; 1 Sm 28:6–7).

Consuming the Blood. 31 After the Philistines were routed that day from Michmash to Aijalon, the people were completely exhausted. 32 So the army pounced upon the plunder and took sheep, oxen, and calves, slaughtering them on the ground and eating the meat with the blood in it.(A) 33 Informed that the army was sinning against the Lord by eating the meat with blood in it, Saul said: “You have broken faith. Roll a large stone here for me.” 34 He continued: “Mingle with the people and tell each of them, ‘Bring an ox or sheep to me. Slaughter them here and then eat. But you must not sin against the Lord by eating meat with blood in it.’” So that night they all brought whatever oxen they had seized, and they slaughtered them there; 35 and Saul built an altar to the Lord—this was the first time he built an altar to the Lord.(B)

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