What does the Bible say about blood?

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The Bible teaches that blood represents life and that God has provided forgiveness, cleansing, and reconciliation through the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ. Leviticus 17:11 declares that God gave blood on the altar to make atonement, while Genesis 9:4 and Leviticus 17:14 teach reverence for life by forbidding the consumption of blood. These sacrifices pointed forward to Christ, whose blood establishes the new covenant and secures forgiveness, as Matthew 26:28 and Hebrews 9:12-14 proclaim. Though Hebrews 9:22 stresses that forgiveness requires the shedding of blood, believers rest not in repeated rituals but in Christ's once-for-all offering. His blood cleanses us from sin, sanctifies his people, and assures us of fellowship with God (1 John 1:7; Hebrews 13:12).

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Rankings: OpenBible.info Topical Bible (CC BY) · Scripture: World English Bible

  • Leviticus 17:11

    For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life.

  • Hebrews 9:22

    According to the law, nearly everything is cleansed with blood, and apart from shedding of blood there is no remission.

  • Genesis 9:4

    But flesh with the life of it, the blood of it, you shall not eat.

  • 1 John 1:7

    But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.

  • Hebrews 13:12

    Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside of the gate.

  • 1 John 5:6

    This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

  • Ezekiel 16:6

    When I passed by you, and saw you weltering in your blood, I said to you, [Though you are] in your blood, live; yes, I said to you, [Though you are] in your blood, live.

  • Leviticus 17:14

    For as to the life of all flesh, its blood is with its life: therefore I said to the children of Israel, "You shall not eat the blood of any kind of flesh; for the life of all flesh is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off."

  • Matthew 26:28

    for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins.

  • Hebrews 9:12-14

    [12] nor yet through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, entered in once for all into the Holy Place, having obtained eternal redemption. [13] For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify to the cleanness of the flesh: [14] how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

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