Blood and Sacrifice
1Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said, 2“Speak to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites and tell them: This is what Yahweh has commanded: 3Any Israelite who slaughters an ox, a lamb, or a goat in the camp or outside it, 4instead of bringing it to the entrance to the tent of meeting to present it as an offering to Yahweh in front of Yahweh’s tabernacle, will be held guilty of bloodshed. That person has shed blood and is to be cut off from among his people. 5This is so that the Israelites will bring to Yahweh the sacrifices they now offer in the open field. They are to bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting and sacrifice them there as peace offerings to Yahweh. 6The priest is to splash the blood against Yahweh’s altar at the entrance to the tent of meeting and burn the fat as a pleasing aroma to Yahweh. 7They must no longer offer their sacrifices to the goat-demons they have prostituted themselves to. This is to be a lasting statute for them and their descendants. 8Say to them further: Any Israelite or foreigner living among them who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice 9and does not bring it to the entrance to the tent of meeting to sacrifice it to Yahweh is to be cut off from his people. 10Any Israelite or foreigner living among them who eats any blood — I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. 11For the life of a creature is in its blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your lives, because it is the blood, by means of the life, that makes atonement. 12That is why I have told the Israelites: none of you may eat blood, and the foreigner living among you may not eat blood either. 13Any Israelite or foreigner living among them who hunts down an animal or bird that may be eaten must drain out its blood and cover it with earth, 14because the life of every creature is its blood. That is why I have told the Israelites: you must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood; anyone who eats it is to be cut off. 15Anyone, whether native-born or foreigner, who eats an animal found dead or torn by wild beasts, must wash his clothes and bathe in water, and he will be unclean until evening; then he will be clean. 16But if he does not wash his clothes or bathe his body, he will bear his guilt.”
