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Genesis 9:2-4
New Catholic Bible
Genesis 9:2-4
New Catholic Bible
2 [a]Fear and dread of you will come upon every wild animal and every bird of the air, everything that crawls upon the earth and all the fish of the sea; they will be under your dominion.
3 “Whatever moves and has life will be used for your food. I give you all these things, just as I have already given you every green plant. 4 [b]Only do not eat flesh along with its life, that is, with its blood.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Genesis 9:2 All this is simply a popular image for describing the complete happiness God had intended for humankind in the state of innocence. Verse 3 makes clear that the eating of meat is part of God’s general plan for the created world.
- Genesis 9:4 In the popular Semitic view blood is the seat of the vital principle; it is not, however, a product of matter but is infused into it by God. Therefore, the blood belongs in its entirety to God, and in a special way the blood of human beings, made as they are in the image of God, who is their protector and avenger.
