Verse (Click for Chapter) New International Version “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. New Living Translation But you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it. English Standard Version But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. Berean Standard Bible But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it. King James Bible But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. New King James Version But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. New American Standard Bible But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. NASB 1995 “Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. NASB 1977 “Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. Legacy Standard Bible However, flesh with its life, that is, its blood, you shall not eat. Amplified Bible But you shall not eat meat along with its life, that is, its blood. Christian Standard Bible However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it. Holman Christian Standard Bible However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it. American Standard Version But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. Contemporary English Version But life is in the blood, and you must not eat any meat that still has blood in it. English Revised Version But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. GOD'S WORD® Translation "But you are not to eat meat with blood in it. (Blood is life.) Good News Translation The one thing you must not eat is meat with blood still in it; I forbid this because the life is in the blood. International Standard Version However, you are not to eat meat with its life—that is, its blood—in it! Majority Standard Bible But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it. NET Bible But you must not eat meat with its life (that is, its blood) in it. New Heart English Bible But flesh with its life, its blood, you shall not eat. Webster's Bible Translation But flesh with the life of it, which is its blood, shall ye not eat. World English Bible But flesh with its life, that is, its blood, you shall not eat. Literal Translations Literal Standard Versiononly flesh in its life—its blood—you do not eat. Young's Literal Translation only flesh in its life -- its blood -- ye do not eat. Smith's Literal Translation But the flesh with its breath, its blood ye shall not eat. Catholic Translations Douay-Rheims BibleSaving that flesh with blood you shall not eat. Catholic Public Domain Version except that flesh with blood you shall not eat. New American Bible Only meat with its lifeblood still in it you shall not eat. New Revised Standard Version Only, you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. Translations from Aramaic Lamsa BibleOnly flesh with the life thereof, that is, the blood thereof, you shall not eat. Peshitta Holy Bible Translated Only the flesh whose blood is in itself you shall not eat. OT Translations JPS Tanakh 1917Only flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. Brenton Septuagint Translation But flesh with blood of life ye shall not eat. Additional Translations ... Audio Bible Context The Covenant of the Rainbow…3Everything that lives and moves will be food for you; just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you all things. 4But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it. 5And surely I will require the life of any man or beast by whose hand your lifeblood is shed. I will demand an accounting from anyone who takes the life of his fellow man:… Cross References Leviticus 17:10-14 If anyone from the house of Israel or a foreigner living among them eats any blood, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from among his people. / For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for your souls upon the altar; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. / Therefore I say to the Israelites, ‘None of you may eat blood, nor may any foreigner living among you eat blood.’ ... Deuteronomy 12:16 but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water. Deuteronomy 12:23-24 Only be sure not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. / You must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water. Acts 15:20 Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood. Acts 15:29 You must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell. Leviticus 3:17 This is a permanent statute for the generations to come, wherever you live: You must not eat any fat or any blood.” Leviticus 7:26-27 You must not eat the blood of any bird or animal in any of your dwellings. / If anyone eats blood, that person must be cut off from his people.’” 1 Samuel 14:32-34 So they rushed greedily to the plunder, taking sheep, cattle, and calves. They slaughtered them on the ground and ate meat with the blood still in it. / Then someone reported to Saul: “Look, the troops are sinning against the LORD by eating meat with the blood still in it.” “You have broken faith,” said Saul. “Roll a large stone over here at once.” / Then he said, “Go among the troops and tell them, ‘Each man must bring me his ox or his sheep, slaughter them in this place, and then eat. Do not sin against the LORD by eating meat with the blood still in it.’” So that night everyone brought his ox and slaughtered it there. Ezekiel 33:25 Therefore tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You eat meat with the blood in it, lift up your eyes to your idols, and shed blood. Should you then possess the land? Deuteronomy 15:23 But you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water. Acts 21:25 As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they must abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.” Leviticus 19:26 You must not eat anything with blood still in it. You must not practice divination or sorcery. Hebrews 9:22 According to the law, in fact, nearly everything must be purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. Matthew 26:28 This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. John 6:53-56 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no life in you. / Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. / For My flesh is real food, and My blood is real drink. ... Treasury of Scripture But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall you not eat. the life. Leviticus 3:17 It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood. Leviticus 7:26 Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings. Leviticus 17:10-14 And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people… Jump to Previous Blood Eat Flesh Food Life Meat ThereofJump to Next Blood Eat Flesh Food Life Meat ThereofGenesis 9 1. God blesses Noah and his sons, and grants them flesh for food.4. Blood and murder are forbidden. 8. God's covenant, of which the rainbow was constituted a pledge. 18. Noah's family replenishes the world. 20. Noah plants a vineyard, 21. Is drunken, and mocked by his son; 25. Curses Canaan; 26. Blesses Shem; 27. Prays for Japheth, and dies. But you must not eat meat This command is part of the covenant God established with Noah after the flood, which includes dietary instructions. The permission to eat meat marks a significant shift from the pre-flood diet, which was primarily plant-based as seen in Genesis 1:29. This change acknowledges the altered relationship between humans and animals post-flood, where animals now fear humans (Genesis 9:2). with its lifeblood still in it. Persons / Places / Events 1. Noah- The recipient of God's covenant and instructions after the flood. He represents humanity in this new beginning. 2. God - The divine authority giving commands and establishing covenants with Noah and his descendants. 3. The Flood - A significant event preceding this command, symbolizing judgment and a new start for creation. 4. Covenant - The agreement between God and Noah, which includes stipulations for human conduct and divine promises. 5. Post-Flood Earth - The setting for this command, marking a new era for humanity and creation. Teaching Points Sanctity of LifeThe command underscores the sacredness of life, as represented by blood. Respect for life is foundational to our relationship with God and others. Obedience to God's Commands This directive is part of a broader covenant relationship, reminding us of the importance of obedience in our walk with God. Symbolism of Blood Blood is a powerful symbol throughout Scripture, representing life, sacrifice, and atonement. Understanding its significance helps us appreciate the depth of Christ's sacrifice. Holiness in Daily Living The command to abstain from blood calls us to live distinctively, reflecting God's holiness in our everyday choices. Continuity of God's Moral Law This principle, carried from the Old Testament into the New, shows the unchanging nature of God's moral expectations.(4) But flesh. . . . --The words are remarkable. "Only flesh in its soul, its blood, ye shall not eat." The Authorised Version is probably right in taking blood as in apposition to soul, which word means here the principle of animation, or that which causes an animal to live. This is God's especial gift; for He alone can bestow upon that aggregation of solids and fluids which we call a body the secret principle of life. Of this hidden life the blood is the representative, and while man is permitted to have the body for his food, as being the mere vessel which contains this life, the gift itself must go back to God, and the blood as its symbol be treated with reverence.Verse 4. - But - אַך, an adverb of limitation or exception, as in Leviticus 11:4, introducing a restriction on the foregoing precept - flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof. Literally, with its soul, its blood; the blood being regarded as the seat of the soul, or life principle (Leviticus 17:11), and even as the soul itself (Leviticus 17:14). The idea of the unity of the soul and the blood, on which the prohibition of blood is based, comes to light everywhere in Scripture. In the blood of one mortally wounded his soul flows forth (Lamentations 2:12), and he who voluntarily sacrifices himself pours out his soul unto death (Isaiah 53:12). The murderer of the innocent slays the soul of the blood of the innocent (ψυχὴν αἵματος ἀθώου, Deuteronomy 27:25), which also cleaves to his (the murderer's) skirts (Jeremiah 2:34; cf. Proverbs 28:17, blood of a soul; cf. Genesis 4:10 with Hebrews 12:24; Job 24:12 with Revelation 6:9; vide also Psalm 94:21; Matthew 23:35). Nor can it be said to be exclusively peculiar to Holy Scripture. In ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics the hawk, which feeds on bloods, represents the soul. Virgil says of a dying person, "purpuream vomit ille animam" ('AEneid,' 9:349). The Greek philosophers taught that the blood was either the soul (Critias), or the soul s food (Pythagoras), or the soul's seat (Empedocles), or the soul's producing cause (the Stoics); but only Scripture reveals the true relation between them both when it declares the blood to be not the soul absolutely, but the means of its self-attestation (vide Delitzsch s ' Bib. Psychology,' div. 4. sec. 11.). Shall ye not eat. Not referring to, although certainly forbidding, the eating of flesh taken from a living animal (Raschi, Cajetan, Delitzsch, Luther, Peele, Jamieson) - a fiendish custom which may have been practiced among the antediluvians, as, according to travelers, it is, or was, among modern Abyssinians; rather interdicting the flesh of slaughtered animals from which the blood has not been properly drained (Calvin, Keil, Kalisch, Murphy, Wordsworth). The same prohibition (commonly regarded by the Hebrew doctors as the seventh of the Noachic precepts which were enjoined upon all nations; vide infra, ver. 6) was afterwards incorporated in the Mosaic legislation (cf. Leviticus 3:17; Leviticus 7:26, 27; Leviticus 17:10-14; Leviticus 19:26; Deuteronomy 12:16, 23, 24; Deuteronomy 15:23), and subsequently imposed upon the Gentile converts in the Christian Church by the authority of the Holy Ghost and the apostles (Acts 15:28, 29). Among other reasons, doubtless, for the original promulgation of this law were these: - 1. A desire to guard against the practice of cruelty to animals (Chrysostom, Calvin, 'Speaker's Commentary'). 2. A design to hedge about human life by showing the inviolability which in God s eye attached to even the lives of the lower creatures (Calvin, Willet, Peele, Kalisch, Murphy). 3. The intimate connection which even in the animal creation subsisted between the blood and the life (Kurtz, 'Sacr. Worship,' I. A.V.). . . . Hebrew Butאַךְ־ (’aḵ-) Adverb Strong's 389: A particle of affirmation, surely you must not לֹ֥א (lō) Adverb - Negative particle Strong's 3808: Not, no eat תֹאכֵֽלוּ׃ (ṯō·ḵê·lū) Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine plural Strong's 398: To eat meat בָּשָׂ֕ר (bā·śār) Noun - masculine singular Strong's 1320: Flesh, body, person, the pudenda of a, man with its lifeblood בְּנַפְשׁ֥וֹ (bə·nap̄·šōw) Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular Strong's 5315: A soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion [still] in it. דָמ֖וֹ (ḏā·mōw) Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular Strong's 1818: Blood, of man, an animal, the juice of the grape, bloodshed Links Genesis 9:4 NIVGenesis 9:4 NLT Genesis 9:4 ESV Genesis 9:4 NASB Genesis 9:4 KJV Genesis 9:4 BibleApps.com Genesis 9:4 Biblia Paralela Genesis 9:4 Chinese Bible Genesis 9:4 French Bible Genesis 9:4 Catholic Bible OT Law: Genesis 9:4 But flesh with its life its blood (Gen. Ge Gn) |
    |