Leviticus 17:13-14

17:13 “‘Any man from the Israelites 1  or from the foreigners who reside 2  in their 3  midst who hunts a wild animal 4  or a bird that may be eaten 5  must pour out its blood and cover it with soil, 17:14 for the life of all flesh is its blood. 6  So I have said to the Israelites: You must not eat the blood of any living thing 7  because the life of every living thing is its blood – all who eat it will be cut off. 8 

1 tc A few medieval Hebrew mss, Smr, and Tg. Ps.-J. have “from the house of Israel” as in vv. 3, 8, and 10, but the LXX agrees with the MT.

2 tn Heb “from the sojourner who sojourns.”

3 tc The LXX, Syriac, Vulgate, and certain mss of Smr have “your” (plural) rather than “their” (cf. v. 10 above).

4 tn Heb “[wild] game of animal.”

5 tn That is, it must be a clean animal, not an unclean animal (cf. Lev 11).

6 tn Heb “for the life/soul (נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh) of all flesh, its blood in its life/soul (נֶפֶשׁ) it is.” The LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate leave out “in its life/soul,” which would naturally yield “for the life of all flesh, its blood it is” (see J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 261, 263). The present translation is something of an oversimplification, but the meaning is basically the same in any case. Cf. NRSV “For the life of every creature – its blood is its life.”

7 tn Heb “of all flesh” (also later in this verse). See the note on “every living thing” in v. 11.

8 tn For remarks on the “cut off” penalty see the note on v. 4 above.