Leviticus 17:14

14 For the blood is the life of all flesh: and so I have said to the children of Israel, You may not take any sort of blood as food, and any man who does so will be cut of.

Leviticus 17:14 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 17:14

For [it is] the life of all flesh
Of every animal:

the blood of it [is] for the life thereof;
for the production, preservation, and continuance of life; that on which life depends, as Jarchi observes:

therefore I said unto the children of Israel, ye shall eat the blood
of no manner of flesh;
of beasts or birds, whose flesh was fit for food; but their blood was not to be eaten, for the reasons before given:

for the life of all flesh [is] the blood thereof;
which is repeated, that it might be observed and taken notice of, as that in which the force of the reason lay for giving this law:

whosoever eateth it shall be cut off;
by death, whether he be an Israelite or a proselyte of righteousness; wherefore if this law was now in force, its penalty also would be continued, whereas it is not, and which shows the abrogation of it. Also (See Gill on Leviticus 17:4).

Leviticus 17:14 In-Context

12 For this reason I have said to the children of Israel, No man among you, or any others living with you, may take blood as food.

13 And any man of Israel, or any other living among them, who gets with his bow any beast or bird used for food, is to see that its blood is covered with earth.

14 For the blood is the life of all flesh: and so I have said to the children of Israel, You may not take any sort of blood as food, and any man who does so will be cut of.

15 And anyone who takes as food anything which has come to a natural end, or anything which has been put to death by beasts, if he is one of you by birth, or of another nation, will have to have his clothing washed and his body bathed in water and be unclean till evening, and then he will be clean.

16 But if his clothing is not washed and his body bathed, his sin will be on him.