Daily Bread

Eating Fat and Blood Forbidden

²² The Lord said to Moses, ²³ “Say to the Israelites: ‘Do not eat any of the fat of cattle, sheep or goats.^{(A) 24} The fat of an animal found dead or torn by wild animals^(B) may be used for any other purpose, but you must not eat it. ²⁵ Anyone who eats the fat of an animal from which a food offering may be^[a] presented to the Lord must be cut off from their people. ²⁶ And wherever you live, you must not eat the blood^(C) of any bird or animal. ²⁷ Anyone who eats blood^(D) must be cut off from their people.’”

The Priests’ Share

²⁸ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁹ “Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who brings a fellowship offering to the Lord is to bring part of it as their sacrifice to the Lord. ³⁰ With their own hands they are to present the food offering to the Lord; they are to bring the fat, together with the breast, and wave the breast before the Lord as a wave offering.^{(E) 31} The priest shall burn the fat on the altar,^(F) but the breast belongs to Aaron and his sons.^{(G) 32} You are to give the right thigh of your fellowship offerings to the priest as a contribution.^{(H) 33} The son of Aaron who offers the blood and the fat of the fellowship offering shall have the right thigh as his share. ³⁴ From the fellowship offerings of the Israelites, I have taken the breast that is waved and the thigh^(I) that is presented and have given them to Aaron the priest and his sons^(J) as their perpetual share from the Israelites.’”

³⁵ This is the portion of the food offerings presented to the Lord that were allotted to Aaron and his sons on the day they were presented to serve the Lord as priests. ³⁶ On the day they were anointed,^(K) the Lord commanded that the Israelites give this to them as their perpetual share for the generations to come.

³⁷ These, then, are the regulations for the burnt offering,^(L) the grain offering,^(M) the sin offering, the guilt offering, the ordination offering^(N) and the fellowship offering, ³⁸ which the Lord gave Moses^(O) at Mount Sinai^(P) in the Desert of Sinai on the day he commanded the Israelites to bring their offerings to the Lord.^(Q)