English Standard Version
Deuteronomy 12:23
23Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.
Deuteronomy 12:23 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.
- New International Version (NIV)But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life; you may not eat the life with the meat.
- New Living Translation (NLT)But never consume the blood, for the blood is the life, and you must not consume the lifeblood with the meat.
Context of Deuteronomy 12:23
21If the place that the Lord your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you, then you may kill any of your herd or your flock, which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your towns whenever you desire. 22Just as the gazelle or the deer is eaten, so you may eat of it. The unclean and the clean alike may eat of it. Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh. 24You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the earth like water. 25You shall not eat it, that all may go well with you and with your children after you, when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord.
Read all of Deuteronomy 12Deuteronomy 12:23 word by word
רַ֣ק חֲזַ֗ק לְבִלְתִּי֙ אֲכֹ֣ל הַדָּ֔ם כִּ֥י הַדָּ֖ם ה֣וּא הַנָּ֑פֶשׁ וְלֹא־תֹאכַ֥ל הַנֶּ֖פֶשׁ עִם־הַבָּשָֽׂר׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Deuteronomy 12:23
- Genesis 9:4But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.
- Leviticus 3:16And the priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering with a pleasing aroma. All fat is the Lord's.
- Leviticus 17:11For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.
- Matthew 20:28even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
- Revelation 5:9And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,
Commentaries on Deuteronomy 12:23
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 23For the blood is the life - And the life being offered as an atonement, consequently the blood should not be eaten. See the notes on Leviticus 17:11, where the subject of the vitality of the blood is largely considered.Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 5-32Verses 5-32 The command to bring ALL the sacrifices to the door of the tabernacle, was now explained with reference to the promised land. As to moral service, then, as now, men might pray and worship every where, as they did in their synagogues. The place which God would choose, is said to be the place where he would put his name. It was to be his habitation, where, as King of Israel, he would be found by all who reverently sought him. Now, under the…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 23the blood is the life: This figure of speech equates the means (blood) with the effect (life). Since life is holy, blood, as the way life moves throughout a body, is also holy (see also Leviticus 17:11).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 22-2822-28. Even as the roebuck and the hart is eaten, so shalt thou eat them, &c.--Game when procured in the wilderness had not been required to be brought to the door of the tabernacle. The people were now to be as free in the killing of domestic cattle as of wild animals. The permission to hunt and use venison for food was doubtless a great boon to the Israelites, not only in the wilderness, but on their settlement in Canaan, as the mountainous ranges of…Read the comment
Topics related to Deuteronomy 12:23
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Deuteronomy 12
- 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
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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