Bible Strands
1 Samuel 14:32
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The exhausted Israelite troops seize enemy livestock after a battle stretching from Michmash to Aijalon (1 Samuel 14:31-32).
The words — The Hebrew verb וַיַּעַט (va.ya'at) conveys a greedy rush toward the plunder, while צֹאן (tzon) and בָקָר (baqar) identify the specific sheep and cattle taken (1 Samuel 14:32).
The thread — This action directly violates the blood prohibition in Genesis 9:4 and Leviticus 3:17, prompting a report to Saul that he condemns as broken faith and links to his earlier failure to obey the LORD (1 Samuel 14:33; 15:19).
Why it lands — The text establishes that physical depletion does not excuse violating divine commands, as the troops' immediate consumption of blood-laden meat triggers immediate judicial and spiritual consequences.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the people flew upon the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew them on the ground: and the people did eat them with the blood.
Cross-references
- 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.”
- 1 Samuel 15:19 So why did you not obey the LORD? Why did you rush upon the plunder and do evil in the sight of the LORD?”
- Genesis 9:4 But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it.
- Leviticus 17:10 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.
- Leviticus 19:26 You must not eat anything with blood still in it. You must not practice divination or sorcery.
- Deuteronomy 12:16 but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.
- Deuteronomy 12:23 Only be sure not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.
- 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.
- Leviticus 7:26 You must not eat the blood of any bird or animal in any of your dwellings.
- 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?