What Does Deuteronomy 12:27 Mean in the King James?
And thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, upon the altar of the LORD thy God: and the blood of thy sacrifices shall be poured out upon the altar of the LORD thy God, and thou shalt eat the flesh.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Hebrew names the altar from the same root as sacrifice, then the verse assigns blood and flesh different destinations.
THE MEANING
The verse places the flesh and blood of burnt offerings on the LORD’s altar, then says the blood of the sacrifices is poured there while their flesh is eaten. In this rite, blood and flesh remain joined but receive distinct places.
THE ROOT
מִזְבֵּחַ
mizbēaḥ
GROWS FROM
זבח
zābaḥ
to slaughter for sacrifice
English gives the altar and sacrifice separate names, but mizbēaḥ (altar) and zebaḥ (sacrifice) share the same root. The verse joins the place to the act in its wording, then distinguishes what happens to blood and flesh.
ALSO GROWS
zābaḥ: to slaughter, sacrifice
זָבַח
Names the act that gives the altar its name.
zebaḥ: a sacrifice, a slaughtered offering
זֶבַח
The same root appears in the verse’s “sacrifices,” linking them directly to the altar.
עֹלֹתֶיךָ
ʿolōṯeḵā
GROWS FROM
עלה
ʿālāh
to go up, ascend
“burnt offerings” in this verse is ʿolōṯeḵā. The Hebrew name for a burnt offering grows from a root meaning “go up.” That upward sense is carried alongside the verse’s concrete sequence: the burnt offering is placed on the altar, while the blood of sacrifices is poured out and their flesh is eaten.
ALSO GROWS
ʿālāh: to go up, ascend
עָלָה
Reveals the movement preserved in the name for the burnt offering.
heʿĕlāh: to bring up, cause to ascend; to offer up
הֶעֱלָה
Shows how the root’s upward movement can describe bringing an offering to the altar.
THE PATTERN
Blood is treated as life set apart from ordinary eating, while flesh can be received as food.
But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.THE THREAD
Only be sure that thou eat not the blood: for the blood is the life; and thou mayest not eat the life with the flesh.This verse names the reason for the division: blood is life, and that life is not eaten with the flesh. Deuteronomy 12:27 gives the distinction a physical form, pouring out the blood and eating the flesh.
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