Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible




However, you must not eat blood -- pour it out on the ground like water.

However, by no means eat the blood, for the blood is life itself -- you must not eat the life with the meat!

This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all the places where you live: You must never eat any fat or any blood.'"

And you must not eat any blood of the birds or the domesticated land animals in any of the places where you live. Any person who eats any blood -- that person will be cut off from his people.'"

"'Any man from the house of Israel or from the foreigners who reside in their midst who eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats the blood, and I will cut him off from the midst of his people, for the life of every living thing is in the blood. So I myself have assigned it to you on the altar to make atonement for your lives, for the blood makes atonement by means of the life. Therefore, I have said to the Israelites: No person among you is to eat blood, and no resident foreigner who lives among you is to eat blood. read more.
"'Any man from the Israelites or from the foreigners who reside in their midst who hunts a wild animal or a bird that may be eaten must pour out its blood and cover it with soil, for the life of all flesh is its blood. So I have said to the Israelites: You must not eat the blood of any living thing because the life of every living thing is its blood -- all who eat it will be cut off.


However, you must not eat its blood; you must pour it out on the ground like water.

Therefore say to them, 'This is what the sovereign Lord says: You eat the meat with the blood still in it, pray to your idols, and shed blood. Do you really think you will possess the land?

but that we should write them a letter telling them to abstain from things defiled by idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood.

that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from doing these things, you will do well. Farewell.

But regarding the Gentiles who have believed, we have written a letter, having decided that they should avoid meat that has been sacrificed to idols and blood and what has been strangled and sexual immorality."


because all the firstborn are mine. When I destroyed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I set apart for myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They belong to me. I am the Lord."


then you must give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. Every firstling of a beast that you have -- the males will be the Lord's. Every firstling of a donkey you must redeem with a lamb, and if you do not redeem it, then you must break its neck. Every firstborn of your sons you must redeem. In the future, when your son asks you 'What is this?' you are to tell him, 'With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the land of slavery. read more.
When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to release us, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of people to the firstborn of animals. That is why I am sacrificing to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb, but all my firstborn sons I redeem.' It will be for a sign on your hand and for frontlets on your forehead, for with a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt."

"Do not hold back offerings from your granaries or your vats. You must give me the firstborn of your sons. You must also do this for your oxen and for your sheep; seven days they may remain with their mothers, but give them to me on the eighth day.

"Every firstborn of the womb belongs to me, even every firstborn of your cattle that is a male, whether ox or sheep. Now the firstling of a donkey you may redeem with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, then break its neck. You must redeem all the firstborn of your sons. "No one will appear before me empty-handed.

"'Surely no man may consecrate a firstborn that already belongs to the Lord as a firstborn among the animals; whether it is an ox or a sheep, it belongs to the Lord.

For all the firstborn males among the Israelites are mine, both humans and animals; when I destroyed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I set them apart for myself. So I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn sons among the Israelites.

You must set apart for the Lord your God every firstborn male born to your herds and flocks. You must not work the firstborn of your bulls or shear the firstborn of your flocks. You and your household must eat them annually before the Lord your God in the place he chooses. If they have any kind of blemish -- lameness, blindness, or anything else -- you may not offer them as a sacrifice to the Lord your God. read more.
You may eat it in your villages, whether you are ritually impure or clean, just as you would eat a gazelle or an ibex. However, you must not eat its blood; you must pour it out on the ground like water.

We also accept responsibility, as is written in the law, for bringing the firstborn of our sons and our cattle and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks to the temple of our God, to the priests who are ministering in the temple of our God.


However, you must not eat blood -- pour it out on the ground like water.

He must not eat an animal that has died of natural causes or an animal torn by beasts and thus become unclean by it. I am the Lord.

This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all the places where you live: You must never eat any fat or any blood.'"


Then you may spend the money however you wish for cattle, sheep, wine, beer, or whatever you desire. You and your household may eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and enjoy it.

You must not eat any forbidden thing. These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, the ibex, the gazelle, the deer, the wild goat, the antelope, the wild oryx, and the mountain sheep. read more.
You may eat any animal that has hooves divided into two parts and that chews the cud. However, you may not eat the following animals among those that chew the cud or those that have divided hooves: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger. (Although they chew the cud, they do not have divided hooves and are therefore ritually impure to you). Also the pig is ritually impure to you; though it has divided hooves, it does not chew the cud. You may not eat their meat or even touch their remains. These you may eat from among water creatures: anything with fins and scales you may eat, but whatever does not have fins and scales you may not eat; it is ritually impure to you. All ritually clean birds you may eat. These are the ones you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, the kite, the black kite, the dayyah after its species, every raven after its species, the ostrich, the owl, the seagull, the falcon after its species, the little owl, the long-eared owl, the white owl, the jackdaw, the carrion vulture, the cormorant, the stork, the heron after its species, the hoopoe, the bat, and any winged thing on the ground are impure to you -- they may not be eaten. You may eat any clean bird. You may not eat any corpse, though you may give it to the resident foreigner who is living in your villages and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. You are a people holy to the Lord your God. Do not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

The meat of his thanksgiving peace offering must be eaten on the day of his offering; he must not set any of it aside until morning. "'If his offering is a votive or freewill sacrifice, it may be eaten on the day he presents his sacrifice, and also the leftovers from it may be eaten on the next day, but the leftovers from the meat of the sacrifice must be burned up in the fire on the third day. read more.
If some of the meat of his peace offering sacrifice is ever eaten on the third day it will not be accepted; it will not be accounted to the one who presented it, since it is spoiled, and the person who eats from it will bear his punishment for iniquity. The meat which touches anything ceremonially unclean must not be eaten; it must be burned up in the fire. As for ceremonially clean meat, everyone who is ceremonially clean may eat the meat.

"Tell the Israelites, 'You must not eat any fat of an ox, sheep, or goat. Moreover, the fat of an animal that has died of natural causes and the fat of an animal torn by beasts may be used for any other purpose, but you must certainly never eat it. If anyone eats fat from the animal from which he presents a gift to the Lord, that person will be cut off from his people. read more.
And you must not eat any blood of the birds or the domesticated land animals in any of the places where you live. Any person who eats any blood -- that person will be cut off from his people.'"

"Tell the Israelites: 'This is the kind of creature you may eat from among all the animals that are on the land. You may eat any among the animals that has a divided hoof (the hooves are completely split in two) and that also chews the cud. However, you must not eat these from among those that chew the cud and have divided hooves: The camel is unclean to you because it chews the cud even though its hoof is not divided. read more.
The rock badger is unclean to you because it chews the cud even though its hoof is not divided. The hare is unclean to you because it chews the cud even though its hoof is not divided. The pig is unclean to you because its hoof is divided (the hoof is completely split in two), even though it does not chew the cud. You must not eat from their meat and you must not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you. "'These you can eat from all creatures that are in the water: Any creatures in the water that have both fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the streams, you may eat. But any creatures that do not have both fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the streams, from all the swarming things of the water and from all the living creatures that are in the water, are detestable to you. Since they are detestable to you, you must not eat their meat and their carcass you must detest. Any creature in the water that does not have both fins and scales is detestable to you. "'These you are to detest from among the birds -- they must not be eaten, because they are detestable: the griffon vulture, the bearded vulture, the black vulture, the kite, the buzzard of any kind, every kind of crow, the eagle owl, the short-eared owl, the long-eared owl, the hawk of any kind, the little owl, the cormorant, the screech owl, the white owl, the scops owl, the osprey, the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and the bat. "'Every winged swarming thing that walks on all fours is detestable to you. However, this you may eat from all the winged swarming things that walk on all fours, which have jointed legs to hop with on the land. These you may eat from them: the locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, the grasshopper of any kind. But any other winged swarming thing that has four legs is detestable to you.

"'All animals that divide the hoof but it is not completely split in two and do not chew the cud are unclean to you; anyone who touches them becomes unclean. All that walk on their paws among all the creatures that walk on all fours are unclean to you. Anyone who touches their carcass will be unclean until the evening,

"'Now this is what is unclean to you among the swarming things that swarm on the land: the rat, the mouse, the large lizard of any kind, the Mediterranean gecko, the spotted lizard, the wall gecko, the skink, and the chameleon. These are the ones that are unclean to you among all the swarming things. Anyone who touches them when they die will be unclean until evening. read more.
Also, anything they fall on when they die will become unclean -- any wood vessel or garment or article of leather or sackcloth. Any such vessel with which work is done must be immersed in water and will be unclean until the evening. Then it will become clean. As for any clay vessel they fall into, everything in it will become unclean and you must break it. Any food that may be eaten which becomes soaked with water will become unclean. Anything drinkable in any such vessel will become unclean. Anything their carcass may fall on will become unclean. An oven or small stove must be smashed to pieces; they are unclean, and they will stay unclean to you. However, a spring or a cistern which collects water will be clean, but one who touches their carcass will be unclean. Now, if such a carcass falls on any sowing seed which is to be sown, it is clean, but if water is put on the seed and such a carcass falls on it, it is unclean to you. "'Now if an animal that you may eat dies, whoever touches its carcass will be unclean until the evening. One who eats from its carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening, and whoever carries its carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. Every swarming thing that swarms on the land is detestable; it must not be eaten. You must not eat anything that crawls on its belly or anything that walks on all fours or on any number of legs of all the swarming things that swarm on the land, because they are detestable. Do not make yourselves detestable by any of the swarming things. You must not defile yourselves by them and become unclean by them,

This is the law of the land animals, the birds, all the living creatures that move in the water, and all the creatures that swarm on the land, to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between the living creatures that may be eaten and the living creatures that must not be eaten.'"

"'Any man from the house of Israel or from the foreigners who reside in their midst who eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats the blood, and I will cut him off from the midst of his people, for the life of every living thing is in the blood. So I myself have assigned it to you on the altar to make atonement for your lives, for the blood makes atonement by means of the life. Therefore, I have said to the Israelites: No person among you is to eat blood, and no resident foreigner who lives among you is to eat blood. read more.
"'Any man from the Israelites or from the foreigners who reside in their midst who hunts a wild animal or a bird that may be eaten must pour out its blood and cover it with soil, for the life of all flesh is its blood. So I have said to the Israelites: You must not eat the blood of any living thing because the life of every living thing is its blood -- all who eat it will be cut off. "'Any person who eats an animal that has died of natural causes or an animal torn by beasts, whether a native citizen or a foreigner, must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening; then he becomes clean.

"'When you sacrifice a peace offering sacrifice to the Lord, you must sacrifice it so that it is accepted for you. It must be eaten on the day of your sacrifice and on the following day, but what is left over until the third day must be burned up. If, however, it is eaten on the third day, it is spoiled, it will not be accepted, read more.
and the one who eats it will bear his punishment for iniquity because he has profaned what is holy to the Lord. That person will be cut off from his people.

When the Lord your God extends your borders as he said he would do and you say, "I want to eat meat just as I please," you may do so as you wish. If the place he chooses to locate his name is too far for you, you may slaughter any of your herd and flock he has given you just as I have stipulated; you may eat them in your villages just as you wish. Like you eat the gazelle or ibex, so you may eat these; the ritually impure and pure alike may eat them. read more.
However, by no means eat the blood, for the blood is life itself -- you must not eat the life with the meat! You must not eat it! You must pour it out on the ground like water. You must not eat it so that it may go well with you and your children after you; you will be doing what is right in the Lord's sight.

You may eat it in your villages, whether you are ritually impure or clean, just as you would eat a gazelle or an ibex. However, you must not eat its blood; you must pour it out on the ground like water.