Genesis 9 · Verse 4

Genesis 9:4

But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
Genesis 9:4, King James Version

Genesis 9:4 in other translations

BSBBut you must not eat meat with its lifeblood still in it.
WEBBut flesh with its life, that is, its blood, you shall not eat.
ASVBut flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
YLTonly flesh in its life--its blood--ye do not eat.
DARBYOnly, the flesh with its life, its blood, ye shall not eat.
BBEBut flesh with the life-blood in it you may not take for food.
WebsterBut flesh with the life of it, which is its blood, shall ye not eat.

What does Genesis 9:4 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
4. But flesh ... the blood ... shall ye not eat--The sole intention of this prohibition was to prevent these excesses of cannibal ferocity in eating flesh of living animals, to which men in the earlier ages of the world were liable.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood - Though animal food was granted, yet the blood was most solemnly forbidden, because it was the life of the beast, and this life was to be offered to God as an atonement for sin. Hence the blood was ever held sacred, because it was the grand instrument of expiation, and because it was typical of that blood by which we enter into the holiest. 1. Before the deluge it was not eaten, because animal food was not in use. 2. After the deluge it was prohibited, as we find above; and, being one of the seven Noahic precepts, it was not eaten previously to the publication of the Mosaic law. 3. At the giving of the law, and at several times during the ministry of Moses, the prohibition was most solemnly, and with awful penalties renewed. Hence we may rest assured that no blood was eaten previously to the Christian era, nor indeed ever since by the Jewish people. 4. That the prohibition has been renewed under the Christian dispensation, can admit of little doubt by any man who dispassionately reads Act 15:20, Act 15:29; Act 21:25, where even the Gentile converts are charged to abstain from it on the authority, not only of the apostles, but of the Holy Ghost, who gave them there and then especial direction concerning this point; see Act 15:28; not for fear of stumbling the converted Jews, the gloss of theologians, but because it was one των επαναγκες τουτων, of those necessary points, from the burden (βαρος) of obedience to which they could not be excused. 5. This command is still scrupulously obeyed by the oriental Christians, and by the whole Greek Church; and why? because the reasons still subsist. No blood was eaten under the law, because it pointed out the blood that was to be shed for the sin of the world; and under the Gospel it should not be eaten, because it should ever be considered as representing the blood which has been shed for the remission of sins. If the eaters of blood in general knew that it affords a very crude, almost indigestible, and unwholesome ailment, they certainly would not on these physical reasons, leaving moral considerations out of the question, be so much attached to the consumption of that from which they could expect no wholesome nutriment, and which, to render it even pleasing to the palate, requires all the skill of the cook. See Lev 17:10.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Genesis 9:4-7
The main reason of forbidding the eating of blood, doubtless was because the shedding of blood in sacrifices was to keep the worshippers in mind of the great atonement; yet it seems intended also to check cruelty, lest men, being used to shed and feed upon the blood of animals, should grow unfeeling to them, and be less shocked at the idea of shedding human blood. Man must not take away his own life. Our lives are God's, and we must only give them up when he pleases. If we in any way hasten our own death, we are accountable to God for it. When God requires the life of a man from him that took it away unjustly, the murderer cannot render that, and therefore must render his own instead. One time or other, in this world or in the next, God will discover murders, and punish those murders which are beyond man's power to punish. But there are those who are ministers of God to protect the innocent, by being a terror to evil-doers, and they must not bear the sword in vain, Ro 13:4. Wilful murder ought always to be punished with death. To this law there is a reason added. Such remains of God's image are still upon fallen man, that he who unjustly kills a man, defaces the image of God, and does dishonour to him.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Genesis 9:4 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

אַךְ\־'akh-neverthelessH389
בָּשָׂ֕רba.SarfleshH1320
בְּנַפְשׁ֥וֹbe.naf.Showith life itsH5315
דָמ֖וֹda.Moblood itsH1818
לֹ֥אlo'notH3808
תֹאכֵֽלוּ\׃to.Khe.luyou must eatH398

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Genesis 9:4

  • Deuteronomy 12:23

    Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.

  • Deuteronomy 12:16

    Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water.

  • Deuteronomy 15:23

    Only thou shalt not eat the blood thereof; thou shalt pour it upon the ground as water.

  • Acts 15:20

    But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

  • Leviticus 7:26

    Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings.

  • Leviticus 17:10-14

    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. For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood. And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust. …

  • Acts 15:29

    That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

  • Leviticus 3:17

    It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.

  • Leviticus 19:26

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

  • 1 Timothy 4:4

    For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:

  • 1 Samuel 14:33-34

    Then they told Saul, saying, Behold, the people sin against the Lord, in that they eat with the blood. And he said, Ye have transgressed: roll a great stone unto me this day. And Saul said, Disperse yourselves among the people, and say unto them, Bring me hither every man his ox, and every man his sheep, and slay them here, and eat; and sin not against the Lord in eating with the blood. And all the people brought every man his ox with him that night, and slew them there.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
the life.
Le 3:17; 7:26; 17:10-14; 19:26; De 12:16,23; 14:21; 15:23; 1Sa 14:34
Ac 15:20,25,29; 1Ti 4:4

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Genesis 9:3

    Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

  • Genesis 9:4

    But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

  • Genesis 9:5

    And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man.

Read all of Genesis 9

Genesis 9:4 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Empero carne con su vida, que es su sangre, no comeréis.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Seulement, vous ne mangerez pas la chair avec sa vie, c’est-à-dire son sang;
German
Elberfelder 1871		Nur das Fleisch mit seiner Seele, seinem Blute, sollt ihr nicht essen;
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Excepto, quod carnem cum sanguine non comedetis.