Deuteronomy 12:23

23 ¹Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, ²for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.

Deuteronomy 12:23 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 12:23

Only be sure that thou eat not the blood
This is repeated again, that they might be careful to observe the law concerning that:

for the blood is the life:
which is the reason given for the prohibition of it, (See Gill on Leviticus 17:11),

and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh:
by which it seems that the meaning of the law was, that the blood might not be eaten in or with the flesh, but to be let out of it, or the fish not to be eaten raw, but dressed; for there were various laws about eating of blood, which are differently expressed.

Deuteronomy 12:23 In-Context

21 If the place that the LORD your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you, then you may kill any of your herd or your flock, which the LORD has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your towns whenever you desire.

22 Just as the gazelle or the deer is eaten, so you may eat of it. The unclean and the clean alike may eat of it.

23 Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.

24 You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the earth like water.

25 You shall not eat it, that all may go well with you and with your children after you, when you do what is right in the sight of the LORD.

Cross References

• 1. See Leviticus 3:17
• 2. See Genesis 9:4