Deuteronomy 12:16
in Deuteronomy 12but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Only ye shall not eat the blood; thou shalt pour it out upon the earth as water.
KJV
Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water.
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This verse in Deuteronomy 12
Commentary
3 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
But whenever you want, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your gates
on Deuteronomy 12:15-16
Verse 15 opens a concession, for Leviticus 17:3-4 required that an ox, lamb or goat killed for the table be brought to the tabernacle door. Now a man may eat “within any of your gates”, because the place is far, as verse 21 states.
This site's exposition
you must not eat the blood
Leviticus 17:13 gave the hunter the same rule: pour out the blood and cover it. At 1 Samuel 14:32 to 34 Saul's troops slaughter animals on the ground and eat the meat with the blood. Saul calls it sin against the LORD.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Only ye shall not eat the blood,.... All manner of blood being forbidden, of fowl or of beasts, whether slain for sacrifice or for common food: ye shall pour it out upon the earth as water; which cannot be gathered up again for use, but is swallowed up in the earth.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| רַ֥ק | rak | only | H7535 → | 109 times |
| הַדָּ֖ם | hadam | the blood | H1818 → | 360 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תֹאכֵ֑לוּ | tokhelu | you must eat | H398 → | 810 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הָאָ֥רֶץ | haaretz | the ground | H776 → | 2504 times |
| תִּשְׁפְּכֶ֖נּוּ | tishpekhenu | you will pour out it | H8210 → | 114 times |
| כַּמָּֽיִם׃ | kamayim | like <the> water | H4325 → | 581 times |
רַ֥קonly
rakH7535 →109 times
הַדָּ֖םthe blood
hadamH1818 →360 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תֹאכֵ֑לוּyou must eat
tokheluH398 →810 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הָאָ֥רֶץthe ground
haaretzH776 →2504 times
תִּשְׁפְּכֶ֖נּוּyou will pour out it
tishpekhenuH8210 →114 times
כַּמָּֽיִם׃like <the> water
kamayimH4325 →581 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
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.
it leads to
- Acts 15:20
Instead, 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.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Acts 21:25
As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.”
- Revelation 2:14
But I have a few things against you, because some of you hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block before the Israelites so they would eat food…
- Revelation 2:20
But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols.
- Acts 15:20
Through
Genesis 9:4But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 12:23
Only be sure not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Leviticus 7:26
You must not eat the blood of any bird or animal in any of your dwellings.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 15:23
But you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.
- Acts 15:29
You 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.
- Deuteronomy 12:23
Where this verse is studied
About Deuteronomy

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).
