Exodus 22:31

Exodus 22:31 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And ye shall be holy men unto me: neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the dogs.
• New International Version (NIV)“You are to be my holy people. So do not eat the meat of an animal torn by wild beasts; throw it to the dogs.
• English Standard Version (ESV)"You shall be consecrated to me. Therefore you shall not eat any flesh that is torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.
• New King James Version (NKJV)“And you shall be holy men to Me: you shall not eat meat torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.

Context of Exodus 22:31

29“You shall not delay the offering from your harvest and your vintage. You shall give (consecrate, dedicate) to Me the firstborn of your sons. 30You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep. It shall be with its mother for seven days; on the eighth day you shall give it [as an offering] to Me. “You shall be holy men to Me; therefore you shall not eat meat [from any animal] that has been torn to pieces [by predators] in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.

Exodus 22:31 word by word

וְאַנְשֵׁי־קֹ֖דֶשׁ תִּהְי֣וּן לִ֑י וּבָשָׂ֨ר בַּשָּׂדֶ֤ה טְרֵפָה֙ לֹ֣א תֹאכֵ֔לוּ לַכֶּ֖לֶב תַּשְׁלִכ֥וּן אֹתֽוֹ׃ סRead the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And ye shall be holyקֹ֫דֶשׁqôdesh · holinessH6944
• menאֱנוֹשׁ'ĕnôsh · humanH582
• unto me: neither shall ye eatאָכַל'âkal · to eatH398
• fleshבָּשָׂרbâώâr · fleshH1320
• torn of beastsטְרֵפָהţerêphâh · torn animalH2966
• in the fieldשָׂדֶהώâdeh ώâday · land: countryH7704
• ye shall castשָׁלַךְshâlak · to throwH7993
• it to the dogsכֶּ֫לֶבkeleb · dogH3611

Cross-references for Exodus 22:31

• Exodus 19:5Now therefore, if you will in fact obey My voice and keep My covenant (agreement), then you shall be My own special possession and treasure from among all peoples [of the world], for all the earth is Mine;
• Leviticus 11:45For I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; therefore you shall be holy, for I am holy.’ ”
• Leviticus 19:2“Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
• Deuteronomy 14:21“You shall not eat anything that dies on its own. You may give it to the stranger (resident alien, foreigner) who is in your [city] gates, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner [since they are not under God’s law], but you are a people holy (set apart) to the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat or a lamb in its mother’s milk.
• 1 Peter 1:15But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your conduct [be set apart from the world by your godly character and moral courage];
• Leviticus 17:15Every person who eats an animal which dies [of natural causes] or was torn by a predator, whether he is native-born or a stranger, he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be [ceremonially] unclean until evening; then he will become clean.
• Leviticus 20:25You are therefore to make a distinction between the [ceremonially] clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; and you shall not make yourselves detestable by animal or by bird or by anything that crawls on the ground, which I have set apart from you as unclean.
• Leviticus 22:8He shall not eat that which dies [of natural causes] or is torn by a predator, becoming unclean by it; I am the Lord.
• Ezekiel 4:14But I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold (hear me), I have never been defiled; for from my youth until now I have never eaten what died on its own or was torn by beasts, nor has any unclean meat ever entered my mouth.”
• Ezekiel 44:31The priests shall not eat any bird or animal that has died a natural death or has been torn to pieces.
• Acts 10:14But Peter said, “Not at all, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common (unholy) and [ceremonially] unclean.”
• Acts 15:20but that we write to them that they are to abstain from anything that has been contaminated by [being offered to] idols and from sexual impurity and from [eating the meat of] what has been strangled and from [the consumption of] blood.

Commentaries on Exodus 22:31

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 31Neither shall ye eat - flesh - torn of beasts in the field - This has been supposed to be an ordinance against eating flesh cut off the animal while alive, and so the Syriac seems to have understood it. If we can credit Mr. Bruce, this is a frequent custom in Abyssinia; but human nature revolts from it. The reason of the prohibition against eating the flesh of animals that had been torn, or as we term it worried in the field, appears to have been simply…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 31The sanctification of the nation was emphatically symbolized by strictness of diet as regards both the kind of animal, and the mode of slaughtering. See Leviticus 11; 17.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 31In the Bible, blood has symbolic meaning because it represents life. For this reason, God forbade people to eat meat that still had blood in it (see Leviticus 17:10–16).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-311-4. If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep--The law respects the theft of cattle which constituted the chief part of their property. The penalty for the theft of a sheep which was slain or sold, was fourfold; for an ox fivefold, because of its greater utility in labor; but, should the stolen animal have been recovered alive, a double compensation was all that was required, because it was presumable he (the thief) was not a practised adept in dishonesty…Read the comment

Topics related to Exodus 22:31

• Food
• Holiness

In the dictionaries

• Book
• Cause
• Curse
• Feed
• Food
• God
• Put
• Restore
• Revile
• Theft

Commentaries on Exodus 22

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings