Leviticus 17

Chapter 17

Blood for Atonement

¹Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Speak to Aaron and to his sons and to all the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord has commanded, saying,

³“Any man from the house of Israel who slaughters an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or who slaughters it outside the camp,

⁴and ^ahas not brought it to the doorway of the tent of meeting to present it as an offering to the Lord before the ¹tabernacle of the Lord, bloodguiltiness is to be reckoned to that man. He has shed blood and that man shall be cut off from among his people.

⁵“¹The reason is so that the sons of Israel may bring their sacrifices which they were sacrificing in the open field, that they may bring them in to the Lord, at the doorway of the tent of meeting to the priest, and sacrifice them as sacrifices of peace offerings to the Lord.

⁶“The priest shall sprinkle the blood on the altar of the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting, and ^aoffer up the fat in smoke as a soothing aroma to the Lord.

⁷“^aThey shall no longer sacrifice their sacrifices to the ¹goat demons with which they play the harlot. This shall be a permanent statute to them throughout their generations.” ’

⁸“Then you shall say to them, ‘Any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice,

⁹and ^adoes not bring it to the doorway of the tent of meeting to ¹offer it to the Lord, that man also shall be cut off from his people.

¹⁰‘^aAnd any man from the house of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who eats any blood, ^bI will set My face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people.

¹¹‘For ^athe ¹life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for ^bit is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’

¹²“Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, ‘No person among you may eat blood, nor may any alien who sojourns among you eat blood.’

¹³“So when any man from the sons of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, ¹in hunting catches a beast or a bird which may be eaten, ^ahe shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth.

¹⁴“^aFor as for the ¹life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its life. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, ‘You are not to eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off.’

¹⁵“^aWhen any person eats an animal which dies or is torn by beasts, whether he is a native or an alien, he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and remain unclean until evening; then he will become clean.

¹⁶“But if he does not wash them or bathe his body, then ^ahe shall bear his ¹guilt.”