Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites on the plains of Moab, establishing covenant regulations before they enter Canaan. The instruction immediately follows permission to consume hunted game regardless of ritual purity status.
The words — רַק (rak) means "only" and functions as a strict textual boundary. הַדָּם (ha-dam) translates to "the blood," which the verse explicitly identifies as life itself.
The thread — The prohibition against consuming blood appears in Genesis 9:4 after the flood, Leviticus 17:11 regarding sacrificial atonement, and Leviticus 17:13 requiring hunters to drain the blood of game.
Why it lands — The text commands readers to refrain from eating blood, grounding the restriction in the biological reality that blood equals life. It establishes a clear dietary boundary that separates consumption of meat from consumption of its vital essence.
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
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.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 17:11 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.
- Genesis 9:4 But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it.
- Leviticus 17:13 And if any Israelite or foreigner living among them hunts down a wild animal or bird that may be eaten, he must drain its blood and cover it with dirt.
- Leviticus 3:16 Then the priest is to burn the food on the altar as a food offering, a pleasing aroma. All the fat is the LORD’s.
- Deuteronomy 12:16 but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.
- Matthew 20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
- Revelation 5:9 And they sang a new song: “Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.