complete verse (Deuteronomy 12:16)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Deuteronomy 12:16:

  • Kupsabiny: “It is only the blood that you may not eat. Pour it down/on the ground like water.” (Source: Kupsabiny Back Translation)
  • Newari: “Blood, however, you must not eat. Pour it out on the ground like water.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “But you (plur.) shall- not -eat the blood; you (plur.) pour- it -out on the ground like water.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “But you must not eat the blood of any animals; you must let the blood drain onto the ground before you cook the meat.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Deuteronomy 12:16

You shall not eat the blood: for the prohibition against eating blood, see verse 23 (also Gen 9.3-4; Lev 17.10-14). The Israelites devised a method of draining the blood out of the animal, a ritual still practiced by Jews today. Another way to render this sentence is “But you must not eat the blood of any animals” (Contemporary English Version).

Pour it out upon the earth like water: as New Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation have it, “on the ground.” To make it clearer, “Pour it out on the ground as you would pour out water.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .