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Levítico 17

ARC · Chapter 17/27

1Fallou mais o Senhor a Moysés, dizendo:

2Falla a Aarão e aos seus filhos, e a todos os filhos d'Israel, e dize-lhes: Esta é a palavra que o Senhor ordenou, dizendo:

3Qualquer homem da casa de Israel que degolar boi, ou cordeiro, ou cabra, no arraial, ou quem os degolar fóra do arraial,

4E os não trouxer á porta da tenda da congregação, para offerecer offerta ao Senhor diante do tabernaculo do Senhor, a tal homem será imputado o sangue; derramou sangue: pelo que tal homem será extirpado do seu povo,

5Para que os filhos de Israel, trazendo os seus sacrificios, que sacrificam sobre a face do campo, os tragam ao Senhor, á porta da tenda da congregação, ao sacerdote, e os sacrifiquem por sacrificios pacificos ao Senhor.

6E o sacerdote espargirá o sangue sobre o altar do Senhor, á porta da tenda da congregação, e queimará a gordura por cheiro suave ao Senhor.

7E nunca mais sacrificarão os seus sacrificios aos demonios, após os quaes elles fornicam: isto ser-lhes-ha por estatuto perpetuo nas suas gerações.

8Dize-lhes pois: Qualquer homem da casa de Israel, ou dos estrangeiros que peregrinam entre vós, que offerecer holocausto ou sacrificio,

9E não trouxer á porta da tenda da congregação, para offerecel-o ao Senhor, o tal homem será extirpado dos seus povos.

10E, qualquer homem da casa de Israel, ou dos estrangeiros que peregrinam entre elles, que comer algum sangue, contra aquella alma que comer sangue, eu porei a minha face, e a extirparei do seu povo.

11Porque a alma da carne está no sangue; pelo que vol o tenho dado sobre o altar, para fazer expiação pelas vossas almas: porquanto é o sangue que fará expiação pela alma.

12Portanto tenho dito aos filhos de Israel: Nenhuma alma de entre vós comerá sangue, nem o estrangeiro, que peregrine entre vós, comerá sangue.

13Tambem, qualquer homem dos filhos de Israel, ou dos estrangeiros que peregrinam entre elles, que caçar caça d'animal ou d'ave que se come, derramará o seu sangue, e o cobrirá com pó;

14Porquanto é a alma de toda a carne; o seu sangue é pela sua alma: por isso tenho dito aos filhos de Israel: Não comereis o sangue de nenhuma carne, porque a alma de toda a carne é o seu sangue; qualquer que o comer será extirpado.

15E toda a alma entre os naturaes, ou entre os estrangeiros, que comer corpo morto ou dilacerado, lavará os seus vestidos, e se banhará com agua, e será immunda até á tarde; depois será limpa

16Mas, se os não lavar, nem banhar a sua carne, levará sobre si a sua iniquidade.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

God commands that every animal slaughtered for food be brought first to the door of the tent of meeting as an offering, forbidding sacrifices outside that place and reinforcing the prohibition against eating blood.

Explanation

This law centralized all the slaughter of domestic animals around worship of God, preventing the people — especially out in the open field — from offering sacrifices to idols or 'demons' (a common pagan practice in the region). Linking the everyday act of eating meat to a sacred place kept the people constantly aware of God's presence even in the most ordinary tasks. The repeated prohibition of blood — 'for the life of the flesh is in the blood' — reinforces that life belongs exclusively to God, and only he has the authority to permit its use in atonement. This still echoes today in the respect many religious traditions show toward the slaughter of animals.

Fun facts

  • The term translated 'demons' here is sa'ir, literally 'hairy goats' — a reference to goat-like deities worshiped by neighboring peoples, showing that Israel's idolatry often involved cults linked to livestock.
  • This law centralizing sacrifice was later adjusted in Deuteronomy 12, once Israel would no longer be camped around a single tent but spread across the promised land.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Levítico 17:1This opening formula introduces a new rule: centralizing all sacrificial animal slaughter in a single place, the door of the tent of meeting.
  2. Levítico 17:2This command was addressed to Aaron, his sons, and the whole people of Israel at the same time — a rare scope in the book, showing the rule applied equally to priests and ordinary people.
  3. Levítico 17:3From here on, slaughtering an ox, lamb, or goat anywhere outside the official procedure came to be treated as a serious problem, whether inside or outside the camp.
  4. Levítico 17:4Before this law, killing an ox or lamb for food could happen anywhere; from here, any slaughter of these animals required that the blood be brought to the door of the tent and offered there. The point was to put an end to sacrifices made at altars scattered across the countryside, centralizing everything in one single place of worship.
  5. Levítico 17:5The reason appears here: instead of sacrificing animals loose in the field, as some apparently did, the people were to bring everything to the door of the tent, to the priest — centralizing the slaughter at the same place as the official worship.
  6. Levítico 17:6Once brought to the priest, the animal followed the usual procedure for a peace offering: blood on the altar, fat burned as a pleasing aroma — the same process as always, now mandatory for any slaughter of these three animals.
  7. Levítico 17:7“Devils” here translates a Hebrew word referring to goat-shaped spirits worshipped by neighboring desert peoples — not the later concept found in the Gospels. The law cuts off the custom of sacrificing to these figures, which ran alongside Israel’s worship at the time.
  8. Levítico 17:8The same requirement to centralize sacrifice at the door of the tent also applied to the foreigner living among the people, not just to native-born Israelites.
  9. Levítico 17:9Whoever offered a sacrifice without bringing it to the door of the tent faced the most severe penalty in the book: being cut off from their own people.
  10. Levítico 17:10The prohibition against eating blood reappears here with even more personal language: “I will even set my face against that soul” — a more direct expression than the usual “shall be cut off.”
  11. Levítico 17:11Here’s the reason for so much emphasis on blood in the book: to the ancient way of thinking, blood was the animal’s very life, not just a bodily fluid. That’s why it couldn’t be eaten like any other food — it was reserved for the altar, as the means through which atonement happened.
  12. Levítico 17:12The text shifts to the first person: it’s the Lord Himself saying directly that no Israelite, nor any foreigner, may eat blood — reinforcing the rule with the full weight of authority.
  13. Levítico 17:13The blood rule applies even to hunting: a wild animal killed in a hunt didn’t go through the altar, but its blood still had to be covered with earth before the meat could be eaten. It was a way of keeping the same respect for blood even outside the context of sacrifice.
  14. Levítico 17:14The same logic from verse 11 appears here applied to hunting, not just sacrifice: blood represents the animal’s life, which is why eating it was forbidden in any context, ritual or not.
  15. Levítico 17:15Eating the meat of an animal that died on its own or was torn apart by another animal, without being properly slaughtered, left the person unclean until evening, resolved by washing the clothes and bathing.
  16. Levítico 17:16But whoever ate that kind of meat without washing the clothes or bathing carried the guilt themselves — skipping the purification step turned a temporary problem into a more serious failure.

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