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.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — God addresses the Israelites and the foreign residents among them, issuing the penalty for consuming blood. This sits within a unit (Lev 17:1–16) that centralizes slaughter at the Tent of Meeting.

The words — הַגֵּר (ha-ger, "the sojourner") explicitly places the foreign resident under the same prohibition as a member of the house of Israel, closing any gap of exemption.

The thread — Leviticus 17:11 supplies the rationale: blood is the life of the flesh and has been given for atonement on the altar. Leviticus 3:17 calls the ban a permanent statute, and Deuteronomy 12:16 restates it in the context of permitted slaughter outside the sanctuary.

Why it lands — The verse removes any distinction between insider and outsider and ties the penalty to a theological claim: blood is not food but the medium of atonement, and consuming it treats as common what has been set apart.

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 whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people.

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.
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.”
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.
Genesis 9:4 But you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it.
Leviticus 7:26 You must not eat the blood of any bird or animal in any of your dwellings.
Leviticus 26:17 And I will set My face against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one pursues you.
1 Samuel 14:33 Then someone reported to Saul: “Look, the troops are sinning against the LORD by eating meat with the blood still in it.” “You have broken faith,” said Saul. “Roll a large stone over here at once.”
Jeremiah 44:11 Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I will set My face to bring disaster and to cut off all Judah.
Leviticus 19:26 You must not eat anything with blood still in it. You must not practice divination or sorcery.