Genesis 9:4

Genesis 9:4 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
• New International Version (NIV)“But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.
• English Standard Version (ESV)But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.
• New King James Version (NKJV)But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.

Context of Genesis 9:4

2And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every bird of the heavens; with all wherewith the ground teemeth, and all the fishes of the sea, into your hand are they delivered. 3Every moving thing that liveth shall be food for you; as the green herb have I given you all. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. 5And surely your blood, the blood of your lives, will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it: and at the hand of man, even at the hand of every man’s brother, will I require the life of man. 6Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

Genesis 9:4 word by word

אַךְ־בָּשָׂ֕ר בְּנַפְשׁ֥וֹ דָמ֖וֹ לֹ֥א תֹאכֵֽלוּ׃Read the interlinear

• fleshבָּשָׂרbâώâr · fleshH1320
• lifeנֶ֫פֶשׁnephesh · soul: lifeH5315
• bloodדָּםdâm · bloodH1818
• eatאָכַל'âkal · to eatH398

Cross-references for Genesis 9:4

• Leviticus 3:17It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings, that ye shall eat neither fat nor blood.
• Leviticus 7:26And ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of bird or of beast, in any of your dwellings.
• Leviticus 17:10And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among them, that eateth any manner of blood, I will set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people.
• Leviticus 19:26Ye shall not eat anything with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantments, nor practise augury.
• Deuteronomy 12:16Only ye shall not eat the blood; thou shalt pour it out upon the earth as water.
• Deuteronomy 14:21Ye shall not eat of anything that dieth of itself: thou mayest give it unto the sojourner that is within thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto a foreigner: for thou art a holy people unto Jehovah thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.
• Deuteronomy 15:23Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it out upon the ground as water.
• 1 Samuel 14:34And Saul said, Disperse yourselves among the people, and say unto them, Bring me hither every man his ox, and every man his sheep, and slay them here, and eat; and sin not against Jehovah in eating with the blood. And all the people brought every man his ox with him that night, and slew them there.
• Acts 15:20but that we write unto them, that they abstain from the pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from what is strangled, and from blood.
• 1 Timothy 4:4For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it be received with thanksgiving:

Commentaries on Genesis 9:4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood - Though animal food was granted, yet the blood was most solemnly forbidden, because it was the life of the beast, and this life was to be offered to God as an atonement for sin. Hence the blood was ever held sacred, because it was the grand instrument of expiation, and because it was typical of that blood by which we enter into the holiest. 1. Before the deluge it was not eaten, because animal food was…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 1-7Verses 1-7 - The Blessing of Noah 2. מורא môrā' “fear, reverence, awful deed.” חת chat “dread, breaking of the courage.” Noah is saved from the deluge. His life is twice given to him by God. He had found grace in the sight of the Lord, and now he and his family have been graciously accepted when they approached the Lord with burnt-offerings. In him, therefore, the race of man is to be begun anew. Accordingly, as at the beginning, the Lord proceeds to…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 4-7Verses 4-7 The main reason of forbidding the eating of blood, doubtless was because the shedding of blood in sacrifices was to keep the worshippers in mind of the great atonement; yet it seems intended also to check cruelty, lest men, being used to shed and feed upon the blood of animals, should grow unfeeling to them, and be less shocked at the idea of shedding human blood. Man must not take away his own life. Our lives are God's, and we must only give…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4God gives an important restriction. Blood represents life (it stands for life), so it had to be drained from an animal before its meat could be eaten (see Leviticus 3:17; 7:26–27; 17:10–14; Deuteronomy 12:16, 23). The Law of Moses also forbade eating animals that died naturally, because their blood had not been drained (Deuteronomy 14:21). God provided animal blood to atone for human sin (Leviticus 17:11; Hebrews 9:22).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. But flesh ... the blood ... shall ye not eat--The sole intention of this prohibition was to prevent these excesses of cannibal ferocity in eating flesh of living animals, to which men in the earlier ages of the world were liable.Read the comment

Topics related to Genesis 9:4

• Blood
• Covenant

In the dictionaries

• Blood
• Cloud
• Covenant
• Dwell
• Enlarge
• Food
• Meat
• Move
• Noah
• Set

Commentaries on Genesis 9

• 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
• Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings