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Deuteronomy 12:23

Only be sure that you don’t eat the blood; for the blood is the life. You shall not eat the life with the meat.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    Only be sure that you don’t eat the blood; for the blood is the life. You shall not eat the life with the meat.

  • KJV King James Version

    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.

  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    Only be stedfast in not eating the blood; for the blood is the life; and thou shalt not eat the life with the flesh.

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Examined in Scripture Analysis

Contradictions (1)

Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.

  • Is it OK to eat blood?

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Commandments (1)

The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.

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Cross-references (5)

Passages linked to Deuteronomy 12:23 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood. I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life.
  • Genesis 9:4 But flesh with its life, that is, its blood, you shall not eat.
  • Leviticus 17:13-14 “ ‘Whatever man there is of the children of Israel, or of the strangers who live as foreigners among them, who takes in hunting any animal or bird that may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood, and cover it with dust. For as to the life of all flesh, its blood is with its life. Therefore I said to the children of Israel, “You shall not eat the blood of any kind of flesh; for the life of all flesh is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off.”
  • Leviticus 3:16-17 The priest shall burn them on the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma; all the fat is Yahweh’s. “ ‘It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings, that you shall eat neither fat nor blood.’ ”
  • Deuteronomy 12:16 Only you shall not eat the blood. You shall pour it out on the earth like water.

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

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Explain this verse (8 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Hebrew, be strong or constant.

Hebrew, be strong or constant.

Because the life of beasts is in their blood.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.

Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The blood is the life; of which See Poole…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Only be sure that thou eat not the blood,....…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 23. For the blood is the life] And…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Soul. See Genesis ix. 4. Blood maintains the life…
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 23. Be sure that thou eat not the blood…
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 the blood is the life
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 12:23 the blood is the life: In this figure…

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