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

21It might happen that the designated place of worship—the place the Lord your God chooses for his name to be honored—is a long way from your home. If so, you may butcher any of the cattle, sheep, or goats the Lord has given you, and you may freely eat the meat in your hometown, as I have commanded you. 22Anyone, whether ceremonially clean or unclean, may eat that meat, just as you do now with gazelle and deer. But never consume the blood, for the blood is the life, and you must not consume the lifeblood with the meat. 24Instead, pour out the blood on the ground like water. 25Do not consume the blood, so that all may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what pleases the Lord.

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 never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it.
• Leviticus 3:16and the priest will burn them on the altar. It is a special gift of food, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. All the fat belongs to the Lord.
• Leviticus 17:11for the life of the body is in its blood. I have given you the blood on the altar to purify you, making you right with the Lord. It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible.
• Matthew 20:28For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
• Revelation 5:9And they sang a new song with these words: “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has 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

• 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