God’s Word Translation
Deuteronomy 12:23
23However, be sure you never eat blood, because blood contains life. Never eat the life with the meat.
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.
- English Standard Version (ESV)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.
- 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.
Context of Deuteronomy 12:23
21If the place the Lord your God chooses to put his name is too far away from you, you may slaughter an animal from the herds or flocks that the Lord has given you. Eat as much as you want in your city. I have commanded you to do this. 22Eat it as you would eat a gazelle or a deer: Clean and unclean people may eat it together. However, be sure you never eat blood, because blood contains life. Never eat the life with the meat. 24Never eat blood. Pour it on the ground like water. 25If you don’t eat blood, things will go well for you and your descendants. You will be doing what the Lord considers right.
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 9:4“But you are not to eat meat with blood in it. (Blood is life.)
- Leviticus 3:16Then the priest will burn them on the altar. It is food, an offering by fire to the Lord. It is a soothing aroma. All the fat belongs to the Lord.
- Leviticus 17:11because blood contains life. I have given this blood to you to make peace with me on the altar. Blood is needed to make peace with me.
- Matthew 20:28It’s the same way with the Son of Man. He didn’t come so that others could serve him. He came to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many people.”
- Revelation 5:9Then they sang a new song, “You deserve to take the scroll and open the seals on it, because you were slaughtered. You bought people with your blood to be God’s own. They are from every tribe, language, 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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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