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Ezekiel 44:31

in Ezekiel 44

The priests may not eat any bird or animal found dead or torn by wild beasts.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

The priests shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself, or is torn, whether it be bird or beast.

KJV

The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of itself, or torn, whether it be fowl or beast.

This verse in Ezekiel 44

Commentary

3 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

(Verse 31) Every dead body and every animal caught by a beast, whether birds or livestock, the priests shall not eat. And according to the letter, this command applies to every chosen people, the royal and priestly, which properly applies to Christians who are anointed with spiritual oil, as it is written: 'God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions' (Psalm 45:7).

This site's exposition

unto them for an inheritance

on Ezekiel 44:28-31

The priests receive no inheritance of land in Israel, because the Lord names himself their inheritance and their possession, the same principle already fixed for Levi under the older law (Numbers 18:20, Deuteronomy 18:1-2) carried forward into the vision unchanged. Their portion instead comes from the offerings themselves, the meat offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, every dedicated thing, the firstfruits and the first of the dough, provision drawn from the altar rather than from the soil. The chapter's last word forbids the priests anything already dead of itself or torn by a beast, the same clean and common distinction that has run through the whole chapter now applied to their own table.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The priests shall not eat of anything that is dead of itself, or torn,.... They shall have no need to eat of such things, being plentifully provided for with better; nor will it become them so to do through avarice, not allowing themselves to enjoy what is liberally given them.

The words behind it

10 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • כָּל־any

    kol-H36055413 times

  • נְבֵלָה֙carcass

    nevelahH5038

  • וּטְרֵפָ֔הand torn flesh

    uterefahH2966

  • מִן־from

    min-H44801188 times

  • הָע֖וֹףthe bird[s]

    haofH577571 times

  • וּמִן־and from

    umin-H44801188 times

  • הַבְּהֵמָ֑הthe animal[s]

    habehemahH929190 times

  • לֹ֥אnot

    lo'H38085168 times

  • יֹאכְל֖וּthey will eat

    yokheluH398810 times

  • הַכֹּהֲנִֽים׃ פthe priests

    hakohanimH3548750 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Leviticus 17:15

    And any person, whether native or foreigner, who eats anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening; then he…

    it leads to

    • Leviticus 22:8

      He must not eat anything found dead or torn by wild animals, which would make him unclean. I am the LORD.

      Reached by 3 separate paths from here.

    • Deuteronomy 14:21

      You are not to eat any carcass; you may give it to the foreigner residing within your gates, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are…

      Reached by 3 separate paths from here.

    • Exodus 22:31

      You are to be My holy people. You must not eat the meat of a mauled animal found in the field; you are to throw it to the dogs.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    1 Corinthians 8:13

    Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to stumble.

    it leads to

    • Romans 14:21

      It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything to cause your brother to stumble.

    • 2 Corinthians 11:29

      Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not burn with grief?

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 14:21

    You are not to eat any carcass; you may give it to the foreigner residing within your gates, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are…

    it leads to

    • Exodus 23:19

      Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

  • Through

    Exodus 22:31

    You are to be My holy people. You must not eat the meat of a mauled animal found in the field; you are to throw it to the dogs.

    it leads to

    • Leviticus 19:2

      “Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

    • Ezekiel 4:14

      “Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have not eaten anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my…

Where this verse is studied

On this page

About Ezekiel

The Prophet Ezekiel — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain
The Prophet Ezekiel — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

This page draws on Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.