Do Not Eat Meat With Blood in It

17 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Speak to Aaron and his sons. Speak to all the Israelites. Tell them, ‘Here is what the Lord has commanded. He has said, ³ “Suppose someone sacrifices an ox, a lamb or a goat. They sacrifice it in the camp or outside of it. ⁴ They do it instead of bringing the animal to the entrance to the tent of meeting. They sacrifice it instead of giving it as an offering to me in front of my holy tent. Then they will be thought of as guilty of spilling blood. Because they have done that, they must be separated from their people. ⁵ The Israelites are now making sacrifices in the open fields. But they must bring their sacrifices to the priest. They must bring them to me at the entrance to the tent of meeting. There they must sacrifice them as friendship offerings. ⁶ The priest must splash the blood against my altar. It is the altar at the entrance to the tent of meeting. He must burn the fat. Its smell will please me. ⁷ The Israelites must stop offering any of their sacrifices to statues of gods that look like goats. When they offer sacrifices to those statues, they are not faithful to me. This is a law for them that will last for all time to come.” ’

⁸ “Tell them, ‘Suppose someone offers a burnt offering or sacrifice. It does not matter whether they are an Israelite or an outsider. ⁹ And suppose they do not bring it to the entrance to the tent of meeting to sacrifice it to me. Then they must be separated from their people.