Leviticus 19:26

26 “ ‘Do not eat any meat with the blood still in it. “ ‘Do not practice divination or seek omens.

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Leviticus 19:26 in Other Translations

KJV

26 Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times.

ESV

26 "You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes.

NLT

26 “Do not eat meat that has not been drained of its blood. “Do not practice fortune-telling or witchcraft.

MSG

26 "Don't eat meat with blood in it. "Don't practice divination or sorcery.

CSB

26 "You are not to eat [anything] with blood [in it]. You are not to practice divination or sorcery.

Leviticus 19:26 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 19:26

Ye shall not eat [anything] with the blood
Or upon, over, or by the blood ^F19, for this law seems different from that in ( Genesis 9:4 ) , and from those in ( Leviticus 3:17 ) ( 7:26 ) ( 17:10 ) ; and is variously interpreted by the Jewish writers; some of not eating flesh, the blood not being rightly let out of it, as not being thoroughly cleared of it {t}, and so comes under the notion of things strangled; others of not eating of sacrifices until the blood stands in the basin ^F21; and others of not eating any flesh whose blood is not sprinkled on the altar, if near the holy place ^F23: some think it refers to the custom of murderers who eat over the person slain, that the avengers of the slain may not take vengeance on them, supposing something superstitious in it, because of what follows ^F24; though it rather has respect to an idolatrous practice of the Zabians, as Maimonides ^F25 informs us, who took blood to be the food of devils, and who used to take the blood of a slain beast and put it in a vessel, or in a hole dug in the earth, and eat the flesh sitting round about the blood; fancying by this means they had communion with devils, and contracted friendship and familiarity with them, whereby they might get knowledge of future things; (See Gill on Ezekiel 33:25): neither shall ye use enchantment;
soothsaying or divination by various creatures, as by the weasel, birds, or fishes, as the Talmudists ^F26; or rather by serpents, as the word used is thought to have the signification of; or by any odd accidents, as a man's food falling out of his mouth, or his staff out of his hand, or his son calling after him behind, or a crow cawing to him, or a hart passing by him, or a serpent on his right hand and a fox on his left, or one says, do not begin (any work) tomorrow, it is the new moon, or the going out of the sabbath ^F1: nor observe times;
saying, such a day is a lucky day to begin any business, or such an hour an unlucky hour to go out in, as Jarchi, taking the word to have the signification of times, days, and hours, as our version and others; but Aben Ezra derives it from a word which signifies a cloud, and it is well known, he says, that soothsayers view and consult the clouds, their likeness and motion; but some of the ancient writers, as Gersom observes, derive it from a word which signifies an eye, and suppose that such persons are intended who hold the eyes of people, cast a mist before them, or use some juggling tricks whereby they deceive their sight.

FOOTNOTES:

F19 (Mdh le) "super sanguine", Montanus, Munster; "super sanguinem", Fagius.
F20 Joseph. Antiqu. l. 6. c. 6. sect. 4. T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 63. 1.
F21 Targum Jon. in loc. T. Bab. Sanhedrin, ib.
F23 Aben Ezra in loc.
F24 Baal Hatturim in loc.
F25 Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 46.
F26 T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 66. 1. Jarchi in loc.
F1 Kimchi, Sepher Shorash. rad. (vxn) .

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible