Deuteronomy 12:23

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 he chooses to locate his name is too far for you, you may slaughter any of your herd and flock he has given you just as I have stipulated; you may eat them in your villages just as you wish. 22Like you eat the gazelle or ibex, so you may eat these; the ritually impure and pure alike may eat them. However, by no means eat the blood, for the blood is life itself – you must not eat the life with the meat! 24You must not eat it! You must pour it out on the ground like water. 25You must not eat it so that it may go well with you and your children after you; you will be doing what is right in the Lord’s sight.

Deuteronomy 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.

• Only be sureחָזַקchâzaq · to strengthen: ensureH2388
• that thou eatאָכַל'âkal · to eatH398
• not the bloodדָּםdâm · bloodH1818
• the lifeנֶ֫פֶשׁnephesh · soul: lifeH5315
• with the fleshבָּשָׂרbâώâr · fleshH1320

Cross-references for Deuteronomy 12:23

• Genesis 9:4But you must not eat meat with its life (that is, its blood) in it.
• Leviticus 3:16Then the priest must offer them up in smoke on the altar as a food gift for a soothing aroma – all the fat belongs to the Lord.
• Leviticus 17:11for the life of every living thing is in the blood. So I myself have assigned it to you on the altar to make atonement for your lives, for the blood makes atonement by means of the life.
• Matthew 20:28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
• Revelation 5:9They were singing a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because you were killed, and at the cost of your own blood you have purchased for God persons 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

• Blood
• Sanitation

In the dictionaries

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

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