Leviticus 7:26

Summary

The verse prohibits eating blood from either birds or livestock, and specifies that this prohibition applies universally, in all the dwelling places of those addressed. It functions as a general dietary restriction covering both categories of animals mentioned elsewhere in the chapter.

Key words

• khol ("any", H3605) — a construct-form noun meaning "all/any of," used twice in the verse (once for "blood," once for "dwelling places"), creating a totalizing scope: no blood at all, in every location.
• lo' ("not", H3808) + tokhelu ("you must eat", H0398) — the negation lo' combined with the qal imperfect second-person plural verb forms a durative prohibition, addressing the community as a continuing rule rather than a single event.
• moshevoteikhem ("your dwelling places", H4186) — a feminine plural construct noun with a second-person plural suffix, indicating that the prohibition is not confined to a sanctuary or specific site but extends to every place of habitation.
• la'of ("of the bird[s]", H5775) and labbehemah ("of the livestock", H0929) — each preceded by preposition+article (H9005), pairing two distinct animal categories under the same rule, joined by ve ("and", H9002).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the object placed first: ve-khol-dam ("and any blood") stands before the verb lo' tokhelu ("you must not eat"), a common fronting pattern in prohibitive law that emphasizes the forbidden substance itself rather than the act of eating. The verb form, qal imperfect, functions here as a general prohibitive, not tied to a single moment but applicable repeatedly whenever the situation arises.

The phrase be-khol moshevoteikhem ("in all your dwelling places") uses the same construct word khol as the opening word, creating a structural echo: totality of blood matched by totality of location. This construction shows that the rule is not restricted geographically — it does not apply only near the altar or sanctuary, but wherever the addressees reside.

The final pair, la'of ve-labbehemah ("of the bird and of the livestock"), closes the verse by specifying the scope of "blood" mentioned at the start: it covers two broad animal categories, winged creatures and domesticated animals, joined by a simple conjunction. The construct chains throughout (khol dam, khol moshevoteikhem) are grammatically parallel, reinforcing the comprehensive character of the statement through repeated syntax rather than through additional vocabulary.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (Sanguinem quoque omnis animalis non sumetis in cibo, tam de avibus quam de pecoribus) closely parallels the Hebrew structure, rendering khol dam as "sanguinem omnis animalis" and preserving the bird/livestock pairing in the same order. The Septuagint text supplied here (LXXSWETE) does not correspond to this Hebrew content — it speaks of a command given by the Lord regarding anointing and an eternal statute for the generations of the sons of Israel, a different subject matter than the blood prohibition found in the Hebrew, Vulgate, and modern translations (BSB, RV1909, SBLIBRE) provided.