Only be sure that you don't eat the blood: for the blood is the life; and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.
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The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.
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Only be sure that you don't eat the blood: for the blood is the life; and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.
Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.
Only be strong, do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and do not eat the life with the meat.
unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).
Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.
Only be sure that you don't eat the blood: for the blood is the life; and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.
Only be sure not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.
Only be sure not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.
Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.
Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou shalt not eat the life with the flesh.
Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou shalt not eat the life with the flesh.
Onely bee sure that thou eate not the blood: for the blood is the life, and thou maiest not eate the life with the flesh.
Only beware of this, that thou eat not the blood, for the blood is for the soul: and therefore thou must not eat the soul with the flesh:
`Only, be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood `is' the life, and thou dost not eat the life with the flesh;
Only, be sure not to eat the blood, for the blood [is] the life, and you do not eat the life with the flesh;
Only be sure that you do not consume the blood, for the blood is the life; you will not eat the life with the meat.
Only be strong, do not eat the blood, for the blood is the life, and do not eat the life with the meat.
Only, be sure that thou eat not the blood; for the blood is the life, and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh;
Only be sure that you don’t eat the blood; for the blood is the life. You shall not eat the life with the meat.
Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.
Just make sure you don't eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat.
But see that you do not take the blood for food; for the blood is the life; and you may not make use of the life as food with the flesh.
Only be stedfast in not eating the blood; for the blood is the life; and thou shalt not eat the life with the flesh.
Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).
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These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →
Grammatical profile
Verb forms
Repetition
Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:
Hebrew & Septuagint length
In English translation the verse runs 25 words from the Hebrew and 24 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.
A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.
Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.
In the original languages it is 14 Hebrew tokens and 18 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.
Topical passages linked to Deuteronomy 12:23 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.
Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).
The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.
These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.
רַ֣ק חֲזַ֗ק לְבִלְתִּי֙ אֲכֹ֣ל הַדָּ֔ם כִּ֥י הַדָּ֖ם ה֣וּא הַנָּ֑פֶשׁ וְלֹא תֹאכַ֥ל הַנֶּ֖פֶשׁ עִם הַבָּשָֽׂר
Only be sure that you don't eat the blood: for the blood is the life; and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.
World English Bible · Public Domain
προςἔχω ἰσχυρῶς ὁ μή ἐσθίω αἷμα ὅτι ὁ αἷμα αὐτός ψυχή οὐ βιβρώσκω ὁ ψυχή μετά ὁ κρέας
Take diligent heed that you eat no blood, for blood is the life of it; the life shall not be eaten with the flesh.
LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain
Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →
The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.
לְחוֹד תְּקֵף בְּדִיל דְלָא לְמֵיכַל דְּמָא אֲרֵי דְמָא הוּא נַפְשָׁא וְלָא תֵיכוּל נַפְשָׁא עִם בִּשְׂרָא
(no public-domain English translation for this verse)
Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
לְחוֹד אִיתוֹקְפוּן בְּיִצְרֵיכוֹן מְטוּל דְּלָא לְמֵיכוּל אִידְמָא אֲרוּם אִידְמָא הוּא קִיּוּם נַפְשָׁא וְלָא תֵיכְלוּן אִידְמָא דְבֵיהּ קִיּוּם נַפְשָׁא עִם בִּישְרָא
Only put a strong restraint upon your desires, that you eat no blood; for the blood is the subsistence of the life. You may not, with the flesh, eat blood, in which is the subsistence of life:
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.
Deuteronomy, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 14 words (11 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is raq (“only”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.
Commentary
Notes on Deuteronomy 12:23 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.
Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →
Tyndale Open Study Notes
Tyndale Open Resources
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Geneva Bible (1599)
Geneva Bible translators
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.
Adam Clarke's Commentary
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill's Exposition
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Matthew Poole's English Annotations
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
Daniel D. Whedon
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Keil & Delitzsch
C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch
Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)
unfoldingWord translationNotes
Door43 World Missions Community
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Rashi
Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)
Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.