Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 15:23
But you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites regarding the consumption of slaughtered animals within their settlements, establishing dietary boundaries for both clean and unclean persons.
The words — דָּמ֖וֹ (damo) = its blood; תִּשְׁפְּכֶ֖נּוּ (tishpeken) = you will pour it out. These terms command the complete removal of blood from consumption and its return to the earth.
The thread — The prohibition recurs in Leviticus 7:26 and Deuteronomy 12:16, while Deuteronomy 12:23 supplies the rationale by identifying blood as life.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to treat blood as inedible and to dispose of it by pouring it onto the ground.
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 thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 12:16 but you must not eat the blood; pour it on the ground like water.
- Leviticus 7:26 You must not eat the blood of any bird or animal in any of your dwellings.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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?