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

2The fear of you and the terror of you will be on every beast of the earth and on every bird of the sky; with everything that creeps on the ground, and all the fish of the sea, into your hand they are given. 3Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant. Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man’s brother I will require the life of man. 6Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.

Genesis 9:4 word by word

אַךְ־בָּשָׂ֕ר בְּנַפְשׁ֥וֹ דָמ֖וֹ לֹ֥א תֹאכֵֽלוּ׃Read the interlinear

• Onlyאַךְ'ak · surelyH389
• you shall not eatאָכַל'âkal · to eatH398
• fleshבָּשָׂרbâώâr · fleshH1320
• with its lifeנֶ֫פֶשׁnephesh · soul: lifeH5315
• its bloodדָּםdâm · bloodH1818

Cross-references for Genesis 9:4

• Leviticus 3:17It is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall not eat any fat or any blood.’”
• Leviticus 7:26You are not to eat any blood, either of bird or animal, in any of your dwellings.
• Leviticus 17:10‘And any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people.
• Leviticus 19:26‘You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor practice divination or soothsaying.
• Deuteronomy 12:16Only you shall not eat the blood; you are to pour it out on the ground like water.
• Deuteronomy 14:21“You shall not eat anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the alien who is in your town, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
• Deuteronomy 15:23Only you shall not eat its blood; you are to pour it out on the ground like water.
• 1 Samuel 14:34Saul said, “Disperse yourselves among the people and say to them, ‘Each one of you bring me his ox or his sheep, and slaughter it here and eat; and do not sin against the Lord by eating with the blood.’” So all the people that night brought each one his ox with him and slaughtered it there.
• Acts 15:20but that we write to them that they abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled and from blood.
• 1 Timothy 4:4For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude;

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