Text -- Leviticus 17:14 (NET)

17:14 for the life of all flesh is its blood. So I have said to the Israelites: You must not eat the blood of any living thing because the life of every living thing is its blood– all who eat it will be cut off.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Lev 17:14

¹ 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.”

² tn Heb “of all flesh” (also later in this verse). See the note on “every living thing” in v. 11.

³ tn For remarks on the “cut off” penalty see the note on v. 4 above.