Laws against Eating Blood

Anyone in Israel, including the foreigner among them, who eats blood faces God’s opposition and removal. The reason is that life is in the blood, and God has given it on the altar to make atonement.

I¹⁰f anyone from the house of Israel or a foreigner living among them eats any blood, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from among his people. ¹¹For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for your souls upon the altar; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. ¹²Therefore I say to the Israelites, ‘None of you may eat blood, nor may any foreigner living among you eat blood.’

When an Israelite or foreigner hunts an animal or bird that may be eaten, the blood must be drained and covered with dirt. The command rests again on the same claim: the life of every creature is in its blood.

¹³And if any Israelite or foreigner living among them hunts down a wild animal or bird that may be eaten, he must drain its blood and cover it with dirt. ¹⁴For the life of all flesh is its blood. Therefore I have told the Israelites, ‘You must not eat the blood of any living thing, because the life of all flesh is its blood; whoever eats it must be cut off.’

Anyone who eats an animal found dead or torn by beasts becomes unclean and must wash clothes and bathe until evening. If that cleansing is refused, the person bears guilt.

¹⁵And any person, whether native or foreigner, who eats anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening; then he will be clean. ¹⁶But if he does not wash his clothes and bathe himself, then he shall bear his iniquity.”