Leviticus 3:17
in Leviticus 3This is a permanent statute for the generations to come, wherever you live: You must not eat any fat or any blood.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings, that ye shall eat neither fat nor blood.
KJV
It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.
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This verse in Leviticus 3
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Blood - See Lev 17:11 note. Throughout all your dwellings - The suet was neither to be eaten in sacrificial meals in the sanctuary, nor in ordinary meals in private houses.
This site's exposition
a perpetual statute for your generations
The rule walks out of the sanctuary and into the house, because throughout all your dwellings puts it in every kitchen in Israel. It is repeated at 7:23-27 and again at 17:10-14, and the blood half of it is given a reason at 17:11, that the life of the flesh is in the blood. The fat is given no reason anywhere in the book. Acts 15:20 and 15:29 carry the blood rule into the first council of the church, which is worth knowing where a reader assumes every rule in Leviticus stopped.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Blood - Was forbidden partly to maintain reverence to God and his worship; partly out of opposition to idolaters, who used to drink the blood of their sacrifices; partly with respect to Christ's Blood, thereby manifestly signified.
It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations,....
(2.) The blood was universally forbidden likewise, for the same reason that the fat was, because it was God's part of every sacrifice. The heathen drank the blood of their sacrifices; hence we read of their drink-offerings of blood, Ps. xvi.
Christ is our peace, our peace-offering; for through him alone it is that we can expect to obtain mercy, and an answer of peace to our prayers; and in him an upright prayer shall be acceptable and successful, though we bring not a peace-offering. The less costly our devotions are the more lively and serious they should be.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
The prohibition of blood rested on a different foundation, being intended to preserve their reverence for the Messiah, who was to shed His blood as an stoning sacrifice for the sins of the world [BROWN].
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
That ye eat neither fat nor blood - It is not likely that the fat should be forbidden in the same manner and in the same latitude as the blood. The blood was the life of the beast, and that was offered to make an atonement for their souls; consequently, this was never eaten in all their generations: but it was impossible to separate the fat from the flesh, which in many parts is so intimately intermixed with the muscular fibres; but the blood, being contained in separate vessels, the arteries and veins, might with great ease be entirely removed by cutting the throat of the animal, which was the Jewish method. By the fat therefore mentioned here and in the preceding verse, we may understand any fat that exists in a separate or unmixed state, such as the omentum or caul, the fat of the mesentery, the fat on the kidneys, and whatever else of the internal fat was easily separable, together with the whole of the tail already described. And probably it was the fat of such animals only as were offered to God in sacrifice, that was unlawful to be eaten. As all temporal as well as spiritual blessings come from God, he has a right to require that such of them should be dedicated to his service as he may think proper to demand. He required the most perfect of all the animals, and the best parts of these perfect animals. This he did, not that he needed any thing, but to show the perfection of his nature and the purity of his service. Had he condescended to receive the meanest animals and the meanest parts of animals as his offerings, what opinion could his worshippers have entertained of the perfection of his nature? If such imperfect offerings were worthy of this God, then his nature must be only worthy of such offerings. It is necessary that every thing employed in the worship of God should be the most perfect of its kind that the time and circumstances can afford. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
חקת עולם This whole verse is well expounded in Torath Cohanim (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Chapter 20 6-8).
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
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| חֻקַּ֤ת | chukat | a statute of | H2708 → | 104 times |
| עוֹלָם֙ | olam | perpetuity | H5769 → | 438 times |
| לְדֹרֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם | ledoroteikhem | to generations your | H1755 → | 167 times |
| בְּכֹ֖ל | bekhol | in all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מֽוֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶ֑ם | moshevoteikhem | dwelling places your | H4186 → | 44 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | any | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| חֵ֥לֶב | chelev | fat | H2459 → | 92 times |
| וְכָל־ | vekhol | and any | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| דָּ֖ם | dam | blood | H1818 → | 360 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תֹאכֵֽלוּ׃ פ | tokhelu | you must eat | H398 → | 810 times |
חֻקַּ֤תa statute of
chukatH2708 →104 times
עוֹלָם֙perpetuity
olamH5769 →438 times
לְדֹרֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔םto generations your
ledoroteikhemH1755 →167 times
בְּכֹ֖לin all
bekholH3605 →5413 times
מֽוֹשְׁבֹתֵיכֶ֑םdwelling places your
moshevoteikhemH4186 →44 times
כָּל־any
kol-H3605 →5413 times
חֵ֥לֶבfat
chelevH2459 →92 times
וְכָל־and any
vekholH3605 →5413 times
דָּ֖םblood
damH1818 →360 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תֹאכֵֽלוּ׃ פyou must eat
tokheluH398 →810 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
Matthew 26:28This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
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…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Hebrews 10:4–14
because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
- Hebrews 9:14–22
how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!
- Matthew 20:28
just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
- Exodus 24:7–8
Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people, who replied, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.”
- Leviticus 17:11
Through
Genesis 9:4But 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 3 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.
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 12:16
About Leviticus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; 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; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.