Bible Strands
Ezekiel 44:31
The priests may not eat any bird or animal found dead or torn by wild beasts.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Ezekiel delivers this directive to the priestly line during the vision of the restored temple's operational regulations. The prophecy outlines the specific dietary restrictions that maintain priestly ritual purity.
The words — The text prohibits consuming נְבֵלָה (nevelah), meaning a carcass, and טְרֵפָה (terefah), meaning flesh torn by wild beasts. These terms explicitly define the forbidden sources of meat.
The thread — This restriction mirrors the holiness codes given in Leviticus 22:8, Exodus 22:31, and Deuteronomy 14:21. Each passage extends the prohibition against eating unclean meat to different groups within Israel.
Why it lands — The command requires priests to separate themselves from common food sources to maintain ritual status. A reader must recognize that dietary obedience functions as a practical boundary for holy service.
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
The priests shall not eat of any thing that is dead of itself, or torn, whether it be fowl or beast.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 22:8 He must not eat anything found dead or torn by wild animals, which would make him unclean. I am the LORD.
- Exodus 22:31 You are to be My holy people. You must not eat the meat of a mauled animal found in the field; you are to throw it to the dogs.
- Deuteronomy 14:21 You are not to eat any carcass; you may give it to the foreigner residing within your gates, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a holy people belonging to the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
- Leviticus 17:15 And any person, whether native or foreigner, who eats anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening; then he will be clean.
- Ezekiel 4:14 “Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have not eaten anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”
- Romans 14:20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to let his eating be a stumbling block.
- 1 Corinthians 8:13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to stumble.