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Leviticus 17:14

in Leviticus 17

For the life of all flesh is its blood. Therefore I have told the Israelites, ‘You must not eat the blood of any living thing, because the life of all flesh is its blood; whoever eats it must be cut off.’

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

For as to the life of all flesh, the blood thereof is all one with the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh; for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.

KJV

For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.

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This verse in Leviticus 17

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh - Independently of the moral reasons given above, we may add, 1. That blood, being highly alkalescent, especially in hot climates, is subject to speedy putrefaction. 2. That it affords a gross nutriment, being very difficult of digestion, so much so that bull’s blood was used in ancient times as poison, “Its extreme viscidity rendering it totally indigestible by the powers of the human stomach.” 3. It is allowed that when blood was used in this country in great quantities, the scurvy was more frequent than at other times.

This site's exposition

Therefore I said unto the children of Israel

on Leviticus 17:12-14

The prohibition is stated three times in five verses, at 10, 12 and 14, which is how Leviticus marks weight. Verse 13 covers the hunter, whose beast or fowl cannot go on the altar at all, and his blood is poured out and covered with dust, so it is buried where it fell. The Mishnah, compiled around 200 AD, gives that one act its own body of law in tractate Chullin as kisui ha-dam, the covering of the blood, and kosher slaughter keeps it still. Acts 15:20 and 15:29 carry the blood rule into the church's first council, which is worth saying plainly because a reader assumes every Levitical rule stopped.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

), You shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh. A great stress is laid upon it, as a law which has more in it than at first view one would think. It is made binding, not only on the house of Israel, but on the strangers that sojourned among them (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Note, God's wrath will be the sinner's ruin. Write that man undone, for ever undone, against whom God sets his face; for what creature is able to confront the Creator? A reason is given for this law (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

For it is the life of all flesh,....

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

THE BLOOD THEREOF IS ‘B’NAFSHO’ (ALL ONE WITH THE LIFE THEREOF). “Its blood represents its life, since life is dependent upon the blood.” This is Rashi’s language. But it is not correct.
Ramban: Spain, 1194–1270 · Ramban on Leviticus 17:14:1, via Sefaria, Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

24 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.

  • כִּֽי־for

    ki-H3588 →4482 times

  • נֶ֣פֶשׁ[the] life of

    nefeshH5315 →754 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • בָּשָׂ֗רflesh

    basarH1320 →270 times

  • דָּמ֣וֹblood its

    damoH1818 →360 times

  • בְנַפְשׁוֹ֮[is] <in> life its

    venafshoH5315 →754 times

  • הוּא֒it

    hu'H1931 →1879 times

  • וָֽאֹמַר֙and I have said

    vaomarH559 →5305 times

  • לִבְנֵ֣יto [the] people of

    livneiH1121 →4930 times

  • יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael

    yisraelH3478 →2507 times

  • דַּ֥ם[the] blood of

    damH1818 →360 times

  • כָּל־any

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • בָּשָׂ֖רflesh

    basarH1320 →270 times

  • לֹ֣אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • תֹאכֵ֑לוּyou must eat

    tokheluH398 →810 times

  • כִּ֣יfor

    kiH3588 →4482 times

  • נֶ֤פֶשׁ[the] life of

    nefeshH5315 →754 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • בָּשָׂר֙flesh

    basarH1320 →270 times

  • דָּמ֣וֹ[is] blood its

    damoH1818 →360 times

  • הִ֔ואit

    hi'H1931 →1879 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • אֹכְלָ֖יו[those who] eat it

    ʾokhelavH398 →810 times

  • יִכָּרֵֽת׃he will be cut off

    yikaretH3772 →288 times

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

Related verses

7 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Leviticus 17:11For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for your souls upon the altar; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.15 worksGenesis 9:4But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it.9 worksActs 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.7 worksDeuteronomy 12:23Only be sure not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.6 worksExodus 12:15For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to remove the leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.2 worksLeviticus 17:4instead of bringing it to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting to present it as an offering to the LORD before His tabernacle—that man shall incur bloodguilt. He has shed blood and must be cut off from among his people.2 works
The other 1 cross-references, with their words ▾
Leviticus 7:21If one touches anything unclean, whether human uncleanness, an unclean animal, or any unclean, detestable thing, and then eats any of the meat of the peace offering that belongs to the LORD, that person must be cut off from his people.”2 works

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

    Genesis 9:4

    But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 12:16

      but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 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.

    • Deuteronomy 15:23

      But you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.

    • 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.

    • Leviticus 7:26

      You must not eat the blood of any bird or animal in any of your dwellings.

  • Through

    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.

    it leads to

    • Leviticus 17:11

      For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for your souls upon the altar; for it is the blood that makes atonement…

    • Genesis 9:4

      But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it.

    • Leviticus 17:13–14

      And if any Israelite or foreigner living among them hunts down a wild animal or bird that may be eaten, he must drain its blood and cover it with dirt.

Where this verse is studied

About Leviticus

Moses and Aaron Appear before Pharaoh, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Moses and Aaron Appear before Pharaoh, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Leviticus: the study guide →Read Leviticus 17 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Leviticus 17 →