Tree of Life Version
Genesis 9:4
4Only flesh with its life—that is, its blood—you must not eat!
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 and terror of you will be on every wild animal, and on every flying creature of the sky, with everything that crawls on the ground and with all the fish of the sea—into your hand they are given. 3Every crawling thing that is alive will be food for you, as are the green plants—I have now given you everything. Only flesh with its life—that is, its blood—you must not eat! 5Surely your lifeblood will I avenge. From every animal and from every person will I avenge it. From every person’s brother will I avenge that person’s life. 6The one who sheds human blood, by a human will his blood be shed, for in God’s image He made humanity.
Read all of Genesis 9Genesis 9:4 word by word
אַךְ־בָּשָׂ֕ר בְּנַפְשׁ֥וֹ דָמ֖וֹ לֹ֥א תֹאכֵֽלוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Genesis 9:4
- Leviticus 3:17“It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings, that you must eat neither fat nor blood.”
- Leviticus 7:26“You are not to eat any blood, whether it is from a bird or an animal, in any of your dwellings.
- Leviticus 17:10“Anyone from the house of Israel, or from the outsiders dwelling among them, who eats any kind of blood, I will set my face against that soul—the one who eats blood—and will cut him off from among his people.
- Leviticus 19:26“You are not to eat any meat with the blood still in it, nor are you to use enchantments, or practice sorcery.
- Deuteronomy 12:16But you are not to eat the blood—you are to pour it out on the ground like water.
- Deuteronomy 14:21You are not to eat anything that dies of itself. You may give it to the outsider within your gates so that he may eat it or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a holy people to Adonai your God. You are not to boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
- Deuteronomy 15:23Only its blood you are not to eat—you must pour it out on the ground like water.
- 1 Samuel 14:34Then Saul said, “Disperse yourselves among the people and tell them: ‘Each one of you bring me his ox or his sheep, and butcher them here and eat. Don’t sin against Adonai by eating with the blood.’” So all the people each brought his ox with him that night and butchered it there.
- Acts 15:20but to write to them to abstain from the contamination of idols, and from sexual immorality, 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 thanksgiving;
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
In the dictionaries
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
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