Deuteronomy 12:16

Deuteronomy 12:16 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water.
• New International Version (NIV)But you must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the earth like water.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it on the earth like water.

Context of Deuteronomy 12:16

14for you may do so only in the place the Lord chooses in one of your tribal areas – there you may do everything I am commanding you. 15On the other hand, you may slaughter and eat meat as you please when the Lord your God blesses you in all your villages. Both the ritually pure and impure may eat it, whether it is a gazelle or an ibex. However, you must not eat blood – pour it out on the ground like water. 17You will not be allowed to eat in your villages your tithe of grain, new wine, olive oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock, any votive offerings you have vowed, or your freewill and personal offerings. 18Only in the presence of the Lord your God may you eat these, in the place he chooses. This applies to you, your son, your daughter, your male and female servants, and the Levites in your villages. In that place you will rejoice before the Lord your God in all the output of your labor.

Deuteronomy 12:16 word by word

רַ֥ק הַדָּ֖ם לֹ֣א תֹאכֵ֑לוּ עַל־הָאָ֥רֶץ תִּשְׁפְּכֶ֖נּוּ כַּמָּֽיִם׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Only ye shall not eatאָכַל'âkal · to eatH398
• the bloodדָּםdâm · bloodH1818
• ye shall pourשָׁפַךְshâphak · to pour: pourH8210
• it upon the earthאֶ֫רֶץ'erets · land: soilH776
• as waterמַיmayim · waterH4325

Cross-references for Deuteronomy 12:16

• Deuteronomy 12:23However, by no means eat the blood, for the blood is life itself – you must not eat the life with the meat!
• Deuteronomy 15:23However, you must not eat its blood; you must pour it out on the ground like water.
• Genesis 9:4But you must not eat meat with its life (that is, its blood) in it.
• Leviticus 7:26And you must not eat any blood of the birds or the domesticated land animals in any of the places where you live.
• Leviticus 17:10“‘Any man from the house of Israel or from the foreigners who reside in their midst who eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats the blood, and I will cut him off from the midst of his people,
• Acts 15:29that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from doing these things, you will do well. Farewell.
• 1 Timothy 4:4For every creation of God is good and no food is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.

Commentaries on Deuteronomy 12:16

• 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. 16The rule against eating blood applied to both sacrificial animals and those killed for food. Blood represented life, so it was holy and belonged only to God. This principle existed from the beginning of creation and came before the law was given (Genesis 4:10–11; 9:4–6; Leviticus 17:11). See also study note on Leviticus 7:26–27.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 16-2516. ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water--The prohibition against eating or drinking blood as an unnatural custom accompanied the announcement of the divine grant of animal flesh for food (Ge 9:4), and the prohibition was repeatedly renewed by Moses with reference to the great objects of the law (Le 17:12), the prevention of idolatry, and the consecration of the sacrificial blood to God. In regard, however, to the blood of…Read the comment

Topics related to Deuteronomy 12:16

• Blood
• Sanitation

In the dictionaries

• High place
• Lust
• Rest
• Atonement, Day of
• Criticism
• Exodus, the Book of
• Genesis
• Law in the Old Testament
• Leviticus
• Maccabees, Books of

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