< Leviticus 17 >
1 Then the LORD said to Moses,
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
2 “Speak to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites and tell them this is what the LORD has commanded:
Speak to Aaron and his sons, and to all the sons of Israel, saying to them: This is the word, which the Lord has commanded, saying:
3 ‘Anyone from the house of Israel who slaughters an ox, a lamb, or a goat in the camp or outside of it
Any man at all of the house of Israel, if he will have killed an ox, or a sheep, or a goat in the camp or beyond the camp,
4 instead of bringing it to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting to present it as an offering to the LORD before His tabernacle—that man shall incur bloodguilt. He has shed blood and must be cut off from among his people.
and not have presented it as an oblation to the Lord at the door of the tabernacle, he shall be guilty of blood. It is just as if he had shed blood; so then, he shall perish from the midst of his people.
5 For this reason the Israelites will bring to the LORD the sacrifices they have been offering in the open fields. They are to bring them to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and offer them as sacrifices of peace to the LORD.
Therefore, the sons of Israel must offer to the priest their victims, which they kill in the field, so that they may be sanctified to the Lord before the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, and so that they may immolate them as peace offerings to the Lord.
6 The priest will then sprinkle the blood on the altar of the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and burn the fat as a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
And the priest shall pour the blood upon the altar of the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, and he shall burn the fat as a sweet odor to the Lord.
7 They must no longer offer their sacrifices to the goat demons to which they have prostituted themselves. This will be a permanent statute for them for the generations to come.’
And they shall no longer immolate their victims to demons, with whom they have committed fornication. It shall be an everlasting ordinance for them and for their posterity.
8 Tell them that if anyone from the house of Israel or any foreigner living among them offers a burnt offering or a sacrifice
And you shall say to them: The man of the house of Israel, or of the newcomers who sojourn with you, who offers a holocaust or a victim,
9 but does not bring it to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting to sacrifice it to the LORD, that man must be cut off from his people.
and who does not bring it to the door of the tabernacle of the testimony, so that it may be offered to the Lord, shall pass away from his people.
10 If 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.
Any man at all of the house of Israel, or of the newcomers who sojourn among them, if he has eaten blood, I will harden my face against his soul, and I will drive him from his people.
11 For 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.
For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you, so that you may atone with it upon the altar for your souls, and so that the blood may be for an expiation of the soul.
12 Therefore I say to the Israelites, ‘None of you may eat blood, nor may any foreigner living among you eat blood.’
For this reason, I have said to the sons of Israel: No soul among you shall eat blood, nor among the newcomers who sojourn with you.
13 And 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.
Any man at all from the sons of Israel, or from the newcomers who sojourn with you, whether by hunting or bird-catching, if he seizes a wild beast or a bird, which is lawful to eat, let him pour out its blood and cover the earth with it.
14 For 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.’
For the life of all flesh is in the blood. Therefore, I said to the sons of Israel: You shall not eat the blood of any flesh at all, because the life of the flesh is in the blood, and whoever has eaten it shall perish.
15 And 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.
The soul who eats what has died on its own, or what has been caught by a beast, whether he is native born or a newcomer, shall wash his clothes and himself with water, and he shall be contaminated until evening. And by this means he shall be made clean.
16 But if he does not wash his clothes and bathe himself, then he shall bear his iniquity.”
But if he will not wash his clothes and his body, he shall bear his iniquity.