Leviticus 7:24 (KJV)

What does Leviticus 7:24 mean?

Leviticus 7:24 permits the Israelites to make practical use of fat from an animal that died on its own or was killed by wild animals. The permission has a firm limit: they must not eat that fat.

The verse comes within instructions the Lord gives Moses for the Israelites. After verse 23 forbids eating fat from cattle, sheep, and goats, verse 24 addresses what could be done with fat from animals that had died in these particular ways.

The Hebrew behind Leviticus 7:24

• “dieth of itself” — נְבֵלָה (nevelah): This word refers to an animal that has died or to its carcass. Here it identifies an animal that died rather than being slaughtered for food.
• “torn with beasts” — טְרֵפָה (terephah): This word refers to an animal torn by a predator. The phrase pictures an animal attacked and killed by another animal.
• “in no wise eat” — אָכַל (akhal): This verb means “to eat.” Its repeated form in Hebrew gives force to the prohibition, which the KJV expresses as “in no wise eat.”

Why Leviticus 7:24 matters

• The permission concerns the fat’s use, not permission to eat the animal’s flesh. Leviticus 17:15 also addresses a person who eats an animal that died on its own or was torn by beasts.
• The surrounding passage gives the food rule serious weight. Leviticus 7:25 says that a person who eats fat of the kind offered to the Lord is to be “cut off from his people.”