Leviticus 17:10

Prohibition against Eating Blood

17:10 “‘Any man ¹  from the house of Israel or from the foreigners who reside ²  in their ³  midst who eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats the blood, and I will cut him off from the midst of his people, ⁴ 

Job 31:31

31:31 if ⁵  the members of my household ⁶  have never said, ⁷ 

‘If only there were ⁸  someone

who has not been satisfied from Job’s ⁹  meat!’ –

Psalms 72:14

72:14 From harm and violence he will defend them; ¹⁰ 

he will value their lives. ¹¹ 

Mark 14:24

14:24 He said to them, “This is my blood, the blood ¹²  of the covenant, ¹³  that is poured out for many.

John 6:55

6:55 For my flesh is true ¹⁴  food, and my blood is true ¹⁵  drink.

¹ tn Heb “And man, man.” The repetition of the word “man” is distributive, meaning “any (or every) man” (GKC 395-96 §123.c; cf. Lev 15:2).

² tn Heb “from the sojourner who sojourns.”

³ tc The LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate have “your” (plural) rather than “their.”

⁴ tn Heb “I will give my faces against [literally “in”] the soul/person/life [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh, feminine] who eats the blood and I will cut it [i.e., that נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] off from the midst of its people.” The uses of נֶפֶשׁ in this and the following verse are most significant for the use of animal blood in Israel’s sacrificial system. Unfortunately, it is a most difficult word to translate accurately and consistently, and this presents a major problem for the rendering of these verses (see, e.g., G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 244-45). No matter which translation of נֶפֶשׁ one uses here, it is important to see that both man and animal have נֶפֶשׁ and that this נֶפֶשׁ is identified with the blood. See the further remarks on v. 11 below. On the “cutting off” penalty see the note on v. 4 above. In this instance, God takes it on himself to “cut off” the person (i.e., extirpation).

⁵ tn Now Job picks up the series of clauses serving as the protasis.

⁶ tn Heb “the men of my tent.” In context this refers to members of Job’s household.

⁷ sn The line is difficult to sort out. Job is saying it is sinful “if his men have never said, ‘O that there was one who has not been satisfied from his food.’” If they never said that, it would mean there were people out there who needed to be satisfied with his food.

⁸ tn The optative is again expressed with “who will give?”

⁹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Job) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn Or “redeem their lives.” The verb “redeem” casts the Lord in the role of a leader who protects members of his extended family in times of need and crisis (see Pss 19:14; 69:18).

¹¹ tn Heb “their blood will be precious in his eyes.”

¹² tn Grk “this is my blood of the covenant that is poured out for many.” In order to avoid confusion about which is poured out, the translation supplies “blood” twice so that the following phrase clearly modifies “blood,” not “covenant.”

¹³ tc Most mss (A Ë^1,13 Ï lat sy) have καινῆς (kainh", “new”) before διαθήκης (diaqhkh", “covenant”), a reading that is almost surely influenced by the parallel passage in Luke 22:20. Further, the construction τὸ τῆς καινῆς διαθήκης (to th" kainh" diaqhkh"), in which the resumptive article τό (referring back to τὸ αἷμα [to |aima, “the blood”]) is immediately followed by the genitive article, is nowhere else used in Mark except for constructions involving a genitive of relationship (cf. Mark 2:14; 3:17, 18; 16:1). Thus, on both transcriptional and intrinsic grounds, this reading looks to be a later addition (which may have derived from τὸ τῆς διαθήκης of D* W 2427). The most reliable mss, along with several others (א B C D^c L Θ Ψ 565), lack καινῆς. This reading is strongly preferred.

¹⁴ tn Or “real.”

¹⁵ tn Or “real.”