Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Is it OK to eat blood?The Priestly and Deuteronomic Torah absolutely forbids eating blood as a perpetual statute (Gen 9:4; Lev 3:17; 7:26-27; 17:10-14; 19:26; Deut 12:16, 23), and t…
Does the Bible condemn astrology?Leviticus 19:26 and Deuteronomy 18:10-12 ban divination and observing 'times' — language traditionally read to include astrology — and call practitioners an ab…
Deuteronomy 14:1(vv27–28)You are the children of Yahweh your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
1 Kings 18:28(v28)They cried aloud, and cut themselves in their way with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them.
Leviticus 21:5(vv27–28)“ ‘They shall not shave their heads or shave off the corners of their beards or make any cuttings in their flesh.
Leviticus 21:1(v28)Yahweh said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, ‘A priest shall not defile himself for the dead among his…
Jeremiah 16:6(vv27–28)Both great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried. Men won’t lament for them, cut themselves, or make themselves bald for…
Show all 31 cross-references
Jeremiah 48:37(vv27–28)For every head is bald, and every beard clipped. There are cuttings on all the hands, and sackcloth on the waist.
Deuteronomy 18:10-14(v26)There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who tells…
2 Kings 17:17(v26)They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do that which…
Mark 5:5(v28)Always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones.
2 Chronicles 33:6(v26)He also made his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft,…
Ezekiel 44:20(v27)“ ‘ “They shall not shave their heads, or allow their locks to grow long. They shall only cut off the hair of their heads.
Revelation 13:16-17(v28)He causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free and the slave, to be given marks on their right hands, or on…
Revelation 20:4(v28)I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of…
2 Kings 21:6(v26)He made his son to pass through the fire, practiced sorcery, used enchantments, and dealt with those who had familiar spirits, and with…
Revelation 15:2(v28)I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who overcame the beast, his image, and the number of his name, standing on…
Leviticus 3:17(v26)“ ‘It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings, that you shall eat neither fat nor blood.’ ”
Leviticus 7:26(v26)You shall not eat any blood, whether it is of bird or of animal, in any of your dwellings.
Leviticus 17:10-14(v26)“ ‘Any man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who live as foreigners among them, who eats any kind of blood, I will set my face…
Deuteronomy 12:23(v26)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.
Isaiah 15:2(v27)They have gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba. Baldness is on all of their…
Revelation 16:2(v28)The first went, and poured out his bowl into the earth, and it became a harmful and evil sore on the people who had the mark of the beast,…
Jeremiah 10:2(v26)Yahweh says, “Don’t learn the way of the nations, and don’t be dismayed at the signs of the sky; for the nations are dismayed at them.
Revelation 14:9(v28)Another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his…
Revelation 14:11(v28)The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and…
Revelation 19:20(v28)The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who worked the signs in his sight, with which he deceived those who had received the…
Ezekiel 7:18(v27)They will also clothe themselves with sackcloth, and horror will cover them. Shame will be on all faces, and baldness on all their heads.
Exodus 7:11(v26)Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. They also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same thing with their enchantments.
Exodus 8:7(v26)The magicians did the same thing with their enchantments, and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt.
1 Samuel 15:23(v26)For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because you have rejected Yahweh’s word, he has…
Daniel 2:10(v26)The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, “There is not a man on the earth who can show the king’s matter, because no king, lord,…
Malachi 3:5(v26)I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the…
31 distinct cross-references across this passage (35 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (17 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv26–28Whether it be strangled, or otherwise.
Whether it be strangled, or otherwise.
To measure lucky or unlucky days.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv26–28Lev 19:26 Ye shall not eat [any thing] with…
Lev 19:26 Ye shall not eat [any thing] with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times.
Ver. 26. Neither shall ye use enchantment.] Or, observe fortunes, conjecture by signs of good or evil luck, as some render it.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv26–28With the blood, i. e. any flesh out of…
With the blood, i. e. any flesh out of which the blood is not first poured. See 1Sa 14:32. The Jews write, that the Egyptians and other nations, when they offered sacrifices to the devils, did eat part of the sacrifices, beside the blood which was kept in basons for that end, which also they believed to be as it were the special food of the devils.
Nor observe times, to wit, superstitiously, by the observation of the clouds, or stars, or otherwise, by esteeming some days lucky, others unlucky. See Deu 18:10,11; Es 3:7.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv26–28Ye shall not eat anything with the blood,.... Or…
Ye shall not eat anything with the blood,.... Or upon, over, or by the blood (s), for this law seems different from that in Gen 9:4, and from those in Lev 3:17; and is variously interpreted by the Jewish writers; some of not eating flesh, the blood not being rightly let out of it, as not being thoroughly cleared of it (t), and so comes under the notion of things strangled; others of not eating of sacrifices until the blood stands in the basin (u); and others of not eating any flesh whose blood is not sprinkled on the altar, if near the holy place (w): some think it refers to the custom of murderers who eat over the person slain, that the avengers of the slain may not take vengeance on them, supposing something superstitious in it, because of what follows (x); though it rather has respect to an idolatrous practice of the Zabians, as Maimonides (y) informs us, who took blood to be the food of devils, and who used to take the blood of a slain beast and put it in a vessel, or in a hole dug in the earth, and eat the flesh sitting round about the blood; fancying by this means they had communion with devils, and contracted friendship and familiarity with them, whereby they might get knowledge of future things; See Gill on Eze 33:25,
neither shall ye use enchantment; soothsaying or divination by various creatures, as by the weasel, birds, or fishes, as the Talmudists (z); or rather by serpents, as the word used is thought to have the signification of; or by any odd accidents, as a man's food falling out of his mouth, or his staff out of his hand, or his son calling after him behind, or a crow cawing to him, or a hart passing by him, or a serpent on his right hand and a fox on his left, or one says, do not begin (any work) tomorrow, it is the new moon, or the going out of the sabbath (a):
Read full note →
nor observe times; saying, such a day is a lucky day to begin any business, or such an hour an unlucky hour to go out in, as Jarchi, taking the word to have the signification of times, days, and hours, as our version and others; but Aben Ezra derives it from a word which signifies a cloud, and it is well known, he says, that soothsayers view and consult the clouds, their likeness and motion; but some of the ancient writers, as Gersom observes, derive it from a word which signifies an eye, and suppose that such persons are intended who hold the eyes of people, cast a mist before them, or use some juggling tricks whereby they deceive their sight.
(s) "super sanguine", Montanus, Munster; "super sanguinem", Fagius. (t) Joseph. Antiqu. l. 6. c. 6. sect. 4. T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 63. 1. (u) Targum Jon. in loc. T. Bab. Sanhedrin, ib. (w) Aben Ezra in loc. (x) Baal Hatturim in loc. (y) Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 46. (z) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 66. 1. Jarchi in loc. (a) Kimchi, Sepher Shorash. rad.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv26–28Any thing with the blood - Any flesh out…
Any thing with the blood - Any flesh out of which the blood is poured. Neither shall ye use enchantments - It was unpardonable in them, to whom were committed the oracles of God, to ask counsel of the devil. And yet worse in Christians, to whom the son of God is manifested, to destroy the works of the devil. For Christians to have their nativities cast, or their fortunes told, or to use charms for the cure of diseases, is an intolerable affront to the Lord Jesus, a support of idolatry, and a reproach both to themselves, and to that worthy name by which they are called. Nor observe times - Superstitiously, esteeming some days lucky, others unlucky.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv26–28Verse 26. Neither shall ye use enchantment] לא תנחשו…
Verse 26. Neither shall ye use enchantment] לא תנחשו lo thenachashu. Conjecture itself can do little towards a proper explanation of the terms used in this verse. נחש nachash; See Clarke on Ge 3:1, we translate serpent, and with very little propriety; but though the word may not signify a serpent in that place, it has that signification in others. Possibly, therefore, the superstition here prohibited may be what the Greeks called Ophiomanteia, or divination by serpents.
Nor observe times.] ולא תעוננו velo teonenu, ye shall not divine by clouds, which was also a superstition much in practice among the heathens, as well as divination by the flight of birds. What these prohibitions may particularly refer to, we know not. See Clarke on Ge 41:8.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv26–28Lev 19:26. Any thing with the blood — Any…
Lev 19:26. Any thing with the blood — Any flesh out of which the blood is not first poured. Neither shall ye use enchantments — It was unpardonable in them, to whom were committed the oracles of God, to ask counsel of the devil. And yet worse in Christians, to whom the Son of God is manifested, to destroy the works of the devil. For Christians to have their nativities cast, or their fortunes told, or to use charms for the cure of diseases, is an intolerable affront to the Lord Jesus, a support of idolatry, and a reproach both to themselves and to that worthy name by which they are called. Nor observe times — Superstitiously, esteeming some days lucky, others unlucky.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn v26Certain pagan customs, several of them connected with magic,…
Certain pagan customs, several of them connected with magic, are here grouped together. The prohibition to eat anything with the blood may indeed refer to the eating of meat which had not been properly bled in slaughtering (Lev 7:26; Lev 17:10, etc.): but it is not improbable that there may be a special reference to some sort of magical or idolatrous rites. Compare Eze 33:25.
Lev 19:26
Read full note →
Observe times - It is not clear whether the original word refers to the fancied distinction between lucky and unlucky days, to some mode of drawing omens from the clouds, or to the exercise of “the evil eye.”
Lev 19:27
Round the corners of your heads - This may allude to such a custom as that of the Arabs described by Herodotus. They used to show honor to their deity Orotal by cutting the hair away from the temples in a circular form. Compare the margin reference.
Mar the corners of thy beard - It has been conjectured that this also relates to a custom which existed among the Arabs, but we are not informed that it had any idolatrous or magical association. As the same, or very similar customs, are mentioned in Lev 21:5, and in Deu 14:1, as well as here, it would appear that they may have been signs of mourning.
Lev 19:28
Cuttings in your flesh for the dead - Compare the margin reference. Among the excitable races of the East this custom appears to have been very common.
Print any marks - Tattooing was probably practiced in ancient Egypt, as it is now by the lower classes of the modern Egyptians, and was connected with superstitious notions. Any voluntary disfigurement of the person was in itself an outrage upon God’s workmanship, and might well form the subject of a law.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv26–28Blood. The flesh of any animal. The blood must…
Blood. The flesh of any animal. The blood must belong to God. The members of the Sanhedrim eat nothing on the day that a criminal is executed, supposing that this is the meaning of the precept. The Septuagint read erim, "on the mountains;" and another version has, "on the roof," as if the worship of idols on high places were forbidden. (Haydock) --- Divine. Perhaps by means of "serpents," or "plates of brass," as the Hebrew ness, may insinuate. These methods were known to the ancients. (Horace, Ode iii. 37.; Pliny xxx. 2.) (Calmet) --- Dreams. Hebrew, times. See Galatians iv. 10. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv26–28shall not eat any thing with the blood--(See on…
shall not eat any thing with the blood--(See on Lev 17:10).
neither . . . use enchantment, nor observe times--The former refers to divination by serpents--one of the earliest forms of enchantment, and the other means the observation, literally, of clouds, as a study of the appearance and motion of clouds was a common way of foretelling good or bad fortune. Such absurd but deep-rooted superstitions often put a stop to the prosecution of serious and important transactions, but they were forbidden especially as implying a want of faith in the being, or of reliance on the providence of God.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv26–2826. Neither… use enchantment — Literally, Ye shall not…
26. Neither… use enchantment — Literally, Ye shall not whisper, hence, divine, or give oracles. The magical practices against which the Hebrews are here warned were borrowed from the nations around, for they had no magic of their own. Yet from the conquest of Canaan until the destruction of Jerusalem we have constant glimpses of magic practised in secret, not only by the ignoble, but by the great. Whether or not there is any reality in the art, it is clearly incompatible with a calm and firm trust in God alone to order future events for our good. “Israel is directed to the word of revelation (Deu_18:9-22) in contrast to all heathen mantic, which has searched through heaven and earth to find signs of the divine counsel, but finding no help, falls into dissolution. The exorcism of the dead, and other forms of mantic, are a horror, and astrology is a folly. Isa_47:13.” — Oehler.
Nor observe times — Practise soothsaying by regarding the aspect of the clouds. Jeremiah (Jer_10:2) exhorts the people not to be “dismayed at the signs of heaven,” at which the heathen are “dismayed.” The practice of regarding some days as lucky and others as unlucky, and of foretelling the future by seeing the new moon over the right or left shoulder, are relics of this species of divination. Keil, with certain rabbins, derives the Hebrew term from ayin — an eye; hence, literally, “to ogle, to bewitch with an evil eye.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv26–2726. with the blood] The LXX. has here instead…
26. with the blood] The LXX. has here instead ‘upon the mountains,’ probably influenced by the phrase in Eze_18:6; Eze_22:9, which, however, according to Rob.-Sm. (Kinship, p. 312), should be assimilated to accord with Eze_33:25.
use enchantments] Employ divination. See e.g. Gen_44:5, where the method was by hydromancy (Driver ad loc.).
Read full note →
practise augury] The original meaning of the Heb. verb is uncertain, but probably its sense is to hum (as insects) or whisper (as leaves), and hence is applied to the low murmuring made by diviners. Augury in the etymological sense (inferences from marking the flight of birds) was practised in the East. See Driver, Deut. p. 225.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv26–28(26) Ye shall not eat any thing with the…
(26) Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood.—According to the administrators of the law during the second Temple, there are no less than five different things forbidden here. It prohibits (1) eating the flesh of a legally slaughtered animal as long as its life is not quite gone, or whilst the flesh is still trembling; (2) eating the flesh of sacrificial animals whilst the blood is still in the sprinkling bowl, and before it has been sprinkled on the altar; (3) eating the meat of mourners by the relatives when a member of the family has been publicly executed, and his blood has been shed; (4) eating anything by the judicial court on the day when their sentence of death is being executed on the criminal; and (5) it warns the rebellious and gluttonous son not to eat immoderately by the penalty of blood.” The ancient Chaldee Version, therefore, which translates it “Ye shall not eat the flesh of any sacrifice whilst the blood is in the basin unsprinkled,” exhibits the second of these prohibitions involved in this interpretation; and all the five premise the rendering of this phrase, “Ye shall not eat by the blood,” which has the merit of being literal; whilst the Authorised Version follows the first of these five prohibitions. Others, again, who also translate it “Ye shall not eat by the blood,” take it as a prohibition of the idolatrous practice which obtained among the Zabii, who, to obtain favour from the demons, gathered the blood of the sacrifices which they offered to them into a vessel or a hole dug in the earth, and then sat around it to consume the sacrificial meal by the blood, thinking that thereby they fraternised with these demons. This seems to be favoured by the next clause.
Neither shall ye use enchantment.- Better, ye shall use no enchantment. According to the authorities during the second Temple, this consisted in any one saying, “A morsel has dropped out of my mouth; the staff has fallen out of my hand; my child has called out behind me; a crow has cawed to me; a deer has crossed my path; a serpent crept on my right hand; a fox has gone by on my left;” and regarding these as bad omens for the day which has now began or for the work which he has just commenced. Or if he says to the man who raises the taxes, “Do not begin with me; it is still early in the day; it is the first of the month; it is the beginning of the week; I shall be unlucky the whole day, week, or month to be the first to be burdened;” this is enchantment.
Read full note →
Nor observe times.—This, according to the same authorities, consists in “taking notice of the seasons and days, and in saying this is a good day to begin a journey, to-morrow will be lucky to make a purchase.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn v26Vers. 26-28. After a repetition of the fundamental ceremonial…
Vers. 26-28. After a repetition of the fundamental ceremonial law against eating things which have the blood in them (the LXX rendering, epi twn orewn , "upon the mountains," arises from a mistaken reading), follow prohibitions
(1) to use enchantment, literally, to whisper or mutter after holding communication with serpents (if the word nichesh be derived from nachash, a serpent);
Read full note →
(2) to observe times, or rather, according to a more probable etymology, exercise the evil eye;
(3) to round the corners of your heads, that is, use a sort of tonsure, as was done by some Arabian tribes (Herod., 3:3) in honour of their god Orotal, and by the Israelites as a form of mourning; (Deu_14:1 Isa_22:12)
(4) to mar the corners of thy beard, a fashion of mourning which accompanied the tonsure of the head; (see Lev_21:5 Isa_15:2 Jer_48:37)
(5) to make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, another form of mourning, associated with the two previously mentioned practices; (see Lev_21:5 Deu_14:1 Jer_16:6 Jer_41:3 Jer_48:37)
(6) to print any marks upon you, that is, tattoo themselves in memory of the dead. All these customs were unbecoming the dignity of God"s people, and had been connected with idolatrous practices.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv27–28Ye shall not round the corners of your heads.
Lev_19:27
Ye shall not round the corners of your heads.
Read full note →
That is, they are not to shave off the hair around the temples and behind the ears, so as to leave the head bald except a dish-like tuft upon the crown, thus imparting to their heads the form of a hemisphere. This was done by the Arabs, and other worshippers of the god Orotal. Hence the Arabs are ironically called those with the corner of their hairpolled (Jer_9:26; Jer_25:23; Jer_49:32). (C. D. Ginsburg, LL. D.)
The true worshipper to appear as such
The command means, that the Israelite was not only to worship God alone, but he was not to adopt a fashion in dress which, because commonly associated with idolatry, might thus misrepresent his real position as a worshipper of the only living and true God. (S. H. Kellogg, D. D.)
Neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.--An injunction not to mar the beard might hardly appear necessary, since it is well known with what pride and scrupulous care the beard was cultivated by the Hebrews and other Eastern nations; that it was deemed the greatest ornament of a man, a badge of his dignity, and a type of his vigour and perfect manhood; beard and life were hence often employed as synonymous, and oaths were confirmed, and blessings bestowed, by invoking the one or the other; suppliants, desirous to give the utmost solemnity to their appeals, touched the beards of those they addressed; and a mutilation of the beard was looked upon as an unbearable disgrace, and often regarded as more calamitous than death. In some countries the beard was the distinctive mark of free men. An old Spartan law forbade the ephori, from the moment of their taking office, to clip their beards; and those who had fled before the enemy in battle were compelled to appear in public with half-shorn beards. However, it was customary among several nations for young men to present to their gods the firstlings of their beards; and it was possibly to prevent the adoption of similar usages among the Hebrews that the injunction was deemed desirable. Besides, marring the cornets of the beard was a heathen mode of mourning, which was not to be imitated, since it might easily lead to more objectionable perversities. (M. M. Kaliseh, Ph. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On v26
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv26–2819:26 blood: See study note on 7:22-27. • Priests…
19:26 blood: See study note on 7:22-27. • Priests were permitted to consult the Urim and Thummim (Exod 28:30) or to cast lots (Lev 16:8) to help decide cases not covered by Mosaic regulations. However, those who practiced fortune-telling or witchcraft were actually consulting a power apart from the Lord, which was forbidden under the first commandment (Exod 20:3).
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv26–28 Whether it be strangled, or otherwise.
Whether it be strangled, or otherwise.
To measure lucky or unlucky days.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv26–28 Lev 19:26 Ye shall not eat [any thing] with…
Lev 19:26 Ye shall not eat [any thing] with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times.
Ver. 26. Neither shall ye use enchantment.] Or, observe fortunes, conjecture by signs of good or evil luck, as some render it.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv26–28 With the blood, i. e. any flesh out of…
With the blood, i. e. any flesh out of which the blood is not first poured. See 1Sa 14:32. The Jews write, that the Egyptians and other nations, when they offered sacrifices to the devils, did eat part of the sacrifices, beside the blood which was kept in basons for that end, which also they believed to be as it were the special food of the devils.
Nor observe times, to wit, superstitiously, by the observation of the clouds, or stars, or otherwise, by esteeming some days lucky, others unlucky. See Deu 18:10,11; Es 3:7.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv26–28 Ye shall not eat anything with the blood,.... Or…
Ye shall not eat anything with the blood,.... Or upon, over, or by the blood (s), for this law seems different from that in Gen 9:4, and from those in Lev 3:17; and is variously interpreted by the Jewish writers; some of not eating flesh, the blood not being rightly let out of it, as not being thoroughly cleared of it (t), and so comes under the notion of things strangled; others of not eating of sacrifices until the blood stands in the basin (u); and others of not eating any flesh whose blood is not sprinkled on the altar, if near the holy place (w): some think it refers to the custom of murderers who eat over the person slain, that the avengers of the slain may not take vengeance on them, supposing something superstitious in it, because of what follows (x); though it rather has respect to an idolatrous practice of the Zabians, as Maimonides (y) informs us, who took blood to be the food of devils, and who used to take the blood of a slain beast and put it in a vessel, or in a hole dug in the earth, and eat the flesh sitting round about the blood; fancying by this means they had communion with devils, and contracted friendship and familiarity with them, whereby they might get knowledge of future things; See Gill on Eze 33:25,
neither shall ye use enchantment; soothsaying or divination by various creatures, as by the weasel, birds, or fishes, as the Talmudists (z); or rather by serpents, as the word used is thought to have the signification of; or by any odd accidents, as a man's food falling out of his mouth, or his staff out of his hand, or his son calling after him behind, or a crow cawing to him, or a hart passing by him, or a serpent on his right hand and a fox on his left, or one says, do not begin (any work) tomorrow, it is the new moon, or the going out of the sabbath (a):
Read full note →
nor observe times; saying, such a day is a lucky day to begin any business, or such an hour an unlucky hour to go out in, as Jarchi, taking the word to have the signification of times, days, and hours, as our version and others; but Aben Ezra derives it from a word which signifies a cloud, and it is well known, he says, that soothsayers view and consult the clouds, their likeness and motion; but some of the ancient writers, as Gersom observes, derive it from a word which signifies an eye, and suppose that such persons are intended who hold the eyes of people, cast a mist before them, or use some juggling tricks whereby they deceive their sight.
(s) "super sanguine", Montanus, Munster; "super sanguinem", Fagius. (t) Joseph. Antiqu. l. 6. c. 6. sect. 4. T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 63. 1. (u) Targum Jon. in loc. T. Bab. Sanhedrin, ib. (w) Aben Ezra in loc. (x) Baal Hatturim in loc. (y) Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 46. (z) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 66. 1. Jarchi in loc. (a) Kimchi, Sepher Shorash. rad.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv26–28 Any thing with the blood - Any flesh out…
Any thing with the blood - Any flesh out of which the blood is poured. Neither shall ye use enchantments - It was unpardonable in them, to whom were committed the oracles of God, to ask counsel of the devil. And yet worse in Christians, to whom the son of God is manifested, to destroy the works of the devil. For Christians to have their nativities cast, or their fortunes told, or to use charms for the cure of diseases, is an intolerable affront to the Lord Jesus, a support of idolatry, and a reproach both to themselves, and to that worthy name by which they are called. Nor observe times - Superstitiously, esteeming some days lucky, others unlucky.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv26–28 Verse 26. Neither shall ye use enchantment] לא תנחשו…
Verse 26. Neither shall ye use enchantment] לא תנחשו lo thenachashu. Conjecture itself can do little towards a proper explanation of the terms used in this verse. נחש nachash; See Clarke on Ge 3:1, we translate serpent, and with very little propriety; but though the word may not signify a serpent in that place, it has that signification in others. Possibly, therefore, the superstition here prohibited may be what the Greeks called Ophiomanteia, or divination by serpents.
Nor observe times.] ולא תעוננו velo teonenu, ye shall not divine by clouds, which was also a superstition much in practice among the heathens, as well as divination by the flight of birds. What these prohibitions may particularly refer to, we know not. See Clarke on Ge 41:8.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv26–28 Lev 19:26. Any thing with the blood — Any…
Lev 19:26. Any thing with the blood — Any flesh out of which the blood is not first poured. Neither shall ye use enchantments — It was unpardonable in them, to whom were committed the oracles of God, to ask counsel of the devil. And yet worse in Christians, to whom the Son of God is manifested, to destroy the works of the devil. For Christians to have their nativities cast, or their fortunes told, or to use charms for the cure of diseases, is an intolerable affront to the Lord Jesus, a support of idolatry, and a reproach both to themselves and to that worthy name by which they are called. Nor observe times — Superstitiously, esteeming some days lucky, others unlucky.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v26 Certain pagan customs, several of them connected with magic,…
Certain pagan customs, several of them connected with magic, are here grouped together. The prohibition to eat anything with the blood may indeed refer to the eating of meat which had not been properly bled in slaughtering (Lev 7:26; Lev 17:10, etc.): but it is not improbable that there may be a special reference to some sort of magical or idolatrous rites. Compare Eze 33:25.
Lev 19:26
Read full note →
Observe times - It is not clear whether the original word refers to the fancied distinction between lucky and unlucky days, to some mode of drawing omens from the clouds, or to the exercise of “the evil eye.”
Lev 19:27
Round the corners of your heads - This may allude to such a custom as that of the Arabs described by Herodotus. They used to show honor to their deity Orotal by cutting the hair away from the temples in a circular form. Compare the margin reference.
Mar the corners of thy beard - It has been conjectured that this also relates to a custom which existed among the Arabs, but we are not informed that it had any idolatrous or magical association. As the same, or very similar customs, are mentioned in Lev 21:5, and in Deu 14:1, as well as here, it would appear that they may have been signs of mourning.
Lev 19:28
Cuttings in your flesh for the dead - Compare the margin reference. Among the excitable races of the East this custom appears to have been very common.
Print any marks - Tattooing was probably practiced in ancient Egypt, as it is now by the lower classes of the modern Egyptians, and was connected with superstitious notions. Any voluntary disfigurement of the person was in itself an outrage upon God’s workmanship, and might well form the subject of a law.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv26–28 Blood. The flesh of any animal. The blood must…
Blood. The flesh of any animal. The blood must belong to God. The members of the Sanhedrim eat nothing on the day that a criminal is executed, supposing that this is the meaning of the precept. The Septuagint read erim, "on the mountains;" and another version has, "on the roof," as if the worship of idols on high places were forbidden. (Haydock) --- Divine. Perhaps by means of "serpents," or "plates of brass," as the Hebrew ness, may insinuate. These methods were known to the ancients. (Horace, Ode iii. 37.; Pliny xxx. 2.) (Calmet) --- Dreams. Hebrew, times. See Galatians iv. 10. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv26–28 shall not eat any thing with the blood--(See on…
shall not eat any thing with the blood--(See on Lev 17:10).
neither . . . use enchantment, nor observe times--The former refers to divination by serpents--one of the earliest forms of enchantment, and the other means the observation, literally, of clouds, as a study of the appearance and motion of clouds was a common way of foretelling good or bad fortune. Such absurd but deep-rooted superstitions often put a stop to the prosecution of serious and important transactions, but they were forbidden especially as implying a want of faith in the being, or of reliance on the providence of God.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv26–28 26. Neither… use enchantment — Literally, Ye shall not…
26. Neither… use enchantment — Literally, Ye shall not whisper, hence, divine, or give oracles. The magical practices against which the Hebrews are here warned were borrowed from the nations around, for they had no magic of their own. Yet from the conquest of Canaan until the destruction of Jerusalem we have constant glimpses of magic practised in secret, not only by the ignoble, but by the great. Whether or not there is any reality in the art, it is clearly incompatible with a calm and firm trust in God alone to order future events for our good. “Israel is directed to the word of revelation (Deu_18:9-22) in contrast to all heathen mantic, which has searched through heaven and earth to find signs of the divine counsel, but finding no help, falls into dissolution. The exorcism of the dead, and other forms of mantic, are a horror, and astrology is a folly. Isa_47:13.” — Oehler.
Nor observe times — Practise soothsaying by regarding the aspect of the clouds. Jeremiah (Jer_10:2) exhorts the people not to be “dismayed at the signs of heaven,” at which the heathen are “dismayed.” The practice of regarding some days as lucky and others as unlucky, and of foretelling the future by seeing the new moon over the right or left shoulder, are relics of this species of divination. Keil, with certain rabbins, derives the Hebrew term from ayin — an eye; hence, literally, “to ogle, to bewitch with an evil eye.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv26–27 26. with the blood] The LXX. has here instead…
26. with the blood] The LXX. has here instead ‘upon the mountains,’ probably influenced by the phrase in Eze_18:6; Eze_22:9, which, however, according to Rob.-Sm. (Kinship, p. 312), should be assimilated to accord with Eze_33:25.
use enchantments] Employ divination. See e.g. Gen_44:5, where the method was by hydromancy (Driver ad loc.).
Read full note →
practise augury] The original meaning of the Heb. verb is uncertain, but probably its sense is to hum (as insects) or whisper (as leaves), and hence is applied to the low murmuring made by diviners. Augury in the etymological sense (inferences from marking the flight of birds) was practised in the East. See Driver, Deut. p. 225.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv26–28 (26) Ye shall not eat any thing with the…
(26) Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood.—According to the administrators of the law during the second Temple, there are no less than five different things forbidden here. It prohibits (1) eating the flesh of a legally slaughtered animal as long as its life is not quite gone, or whilst the flesh is still trembling; (2) eating the flesh of sacrificial animals whilst the blood is still in the sprinkling bowl, and before it has been sprinkled on the altar; (3) eating the meat of mourners by the relatives when a member of the family has been publicly executed, and his blood has been shed; (4) eating anything by the judicial court on the day when their sentence of death is being executed on the criminal; and (5) it warns the rebellious and gluttonous son not to eat immoderately by the penalty of blood.” The ancient Chaldee Version, therefore, which translates it “Ye shall not eat the flesh of any sacrifice whilst the blood is in the basin unsprinkled,” exhibits the second of these prohibitions involved in this interpretation; and all the five premise the rendering of this phrase, “Ye shall not eat by the blood,” which has the merit of being literal; whilst the Authorised Version follows the first of these five prohibitions. Others, again, who also translate it “Ye shall not eat by the blood,” take it as a prohibition of the idolatrous practice which obtained among the Zabii, who, to obtain favour from the demons, gathered the blood of the sacrifices which they offered to them into a vessel or a hole dug in the earth, and then sat around it to consume the sacrificial meal by the blood, thinking that thereby they fraternised with these demons. This seems to be favoured by the next clause.
Neither shall ye use enchantment.- Better, ye shall use no enchantment. According to the authorities during the second Temple, this consisted in any one saying, “A morsel has dropped out of my mouth; the staff has fallen out of my hand; my child has called out behind me; a crow has cawed to me; a deer has crossed my path; a serpent crept on my right hand; a fox has gone by on my left;” and regarding these as bad omens for the day which has now began or for the work which he has just commenced. Or if he says to the man who raises the taxes, “Do not begin with me; it is still early in the day; it is the first of the month; it is the beginning of the week; I shall be unlucky the whole day, week, or month to be the first to be burdened;” this is enchantment.
Read full note →
Nor observe times.—This, according to the same authorities, consists in “taking notice of the seasons and days, and in saying this is a good day to begin a journey, to-morrow will be lucky to make a purchase.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On v26 Vers. 26-28. After a repetition of the fundamental ceremonial…
Vers. 26-28. After a repetition of the fundamental ceremonial law against eating things which have the blood in them (the LXX rendering, epi twn orewn , "upon the mountains," arises from a mistaken reading), follow prohibitions
(1) to use enchantment, literally, to whisper or mutter after holding communication with serpents (if the word nichesh be derived from nachash, a serpent);
Read full note →
(2) to observe times, or rather, according to a more probable etymology, exercise the evil eye;
(3) to round the corners of your heads, that is, use a sort of tonsure, as was done by some Arabian tribes (Herod., 3:3) in honour of their god Orotal, and by the Israelites as a form of mourning; (Deu_14:1 Isa_22:12)
(4) to mar the corners of thy beard, a fashion of mourning which accompanied the tonsure of the head; (see Lev_21:5 Isa_15:2 Jer_48:37)
(5) to make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, another form of mourning, associated with the two previously mentioned practices; (see Lev_21:5 Deu_14:1 Jer_16:6 Jer_41:3 Jer_48:37)
(6) to print any marks upon you, that is, tattoo themselves in memory of the dead. All these customs were unbecoming the dignity of God"s people, and had been connected with idolatrous practices.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv27–28 Ye shall not round the corners of your heads.
Lev_19:27
Ye shall not round the corners of your heads.
Read full note →
That is, they are not to shave off the hair around the temples and behind the ears, so as to leave the head bald except a dish-like tuft upon the crown, thus imparting to their heads the form of a hemisphere. This was done by the Arabs, and other worshippers of the god Orotal. Hence the Arabs are ironically called those with the corner of their hairpolled (Jer_9:26; Jer_25:23; Jer_49:32). (C. D. Ginsburg, LL. D.)
The true worshipper to appear as such
The command means, that the Israelite was not only to worship God alone, but he was not to adopt a fashion in dress which, because commonly associated with idolatry, might thus misrepresent his real position as a worshipper of the only living and true God. (S. H. Kellogg, D. D.)
Neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.--An injunction not to mar the beard might hardly appear necessary, since it is well known with what pride and scrupulous care the beard was cultivated by the Hebrews and other Eastern nations; that it was deemed the greatest ornament of a man, a badge of his dignity, and a type of his vigour and perfect manhood; beard and life were hence often employed as synonymous, and oaths were confirmed, and blessings bestowed, by invoking the one or the other; suppliants, desirous to give the utmost solemnity to their appeals, touched the beards of those they addressed; and a mutilation of the beard was looked upon as an unbearable disgrace, and often regarded as more calamitous than death. In some countries the beard was the distinctive mark of free men. An old Spartan law forbade the ephori, from the moment of their taking office, to clip their beards; and those who had fled before the enemy in battle were compelled to appear in public with half-shorn beards. However, it was customary among several nations for young men to present to their gods the firstlings of their beards; and it was possibly to prevent the adoption of similar usages among the Hebrews that the injunction was deemed desirable. Besides, marring the cornets of the beard was a heathen mode of mourning, which was not to be imitated, since it might easily lead to more objectionable perversities. (M. M. Kaliseh, Ph. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v26
translationWords
blood
Read full note →
spirit
power
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv26–28 19:26 blood: See study note on 7:22-27. • Priests…
19:26 blood: See study note on 7:22-27. • Priests were permitted to consult the Urim and Thummim (Exod 28:30) or to cast lots (Lev 16:8) to help decide cases not covered by Mosaic regulations. However, those who practiced fortune-telling or witchcraft were actually consulting a power apart from the Lord, which was forbidden under the first commandment (Exod 20:3).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.