Scripture Blog

This weblog is my personal online scripture journal. I try to read the scriptures each morning as I exercise on my cross-trainer. It has a great impact on my life and my testimony of the Savior and his restored church. The journal is really for my own benefit but I have set it up as a web log in hopes to benefit anyone else that may be interested. "For he that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost..." 1 Nephi 10:19

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Genesis 9

Sometimes as I continue to study, I find new scriptures that support previous blogs.  I blogged last Friday concerning the curse on the land that Lamech suggested that Noah would relieve them of.  As I read the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible, it reads that after the flood, Noah said -

"I will call on the name of the Lord, that he will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake, for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; and he will not again smite any more every thing living, as he hath done, while the earth remaineth;
7 And, that seed-time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night, may not cease with man.  (JST Genesis 9:5-7)

It appears to me that the curse of the ground would be far less after the flood than what may have been previously.

And then after the flood, much like He had with Adam, the Lord commanded -

Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.
6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man."  (Old Testament | Genesis 9:1 - 6)

For a better understanding, the Joseph Smith Translation reads -

"But, the blood of all flesh which I have given you for meat, shall be shed upon the ground [in other words, the animals are to be bled before being cooked and eaten], which taketh life thereof, and the blood ye shall not eat.
11 And surely, blood shall not be shed, only [except] for meat [food], to save your lives [to sustain your lives— compare to D& C 49: 18 and 59: 18– 20]; and the blood of every beast will I require at your hands [you are accountable for how you handle your “dominion” over the creatures of the earth].
12 And whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed [the law of capital punishment]; for man shall not shed the blood of man [in other words, “thou shalt not kill”— compare with Exodus 20: 13].
13 For a commandment I give, that every man’s brother shall preserve the life of man [we are to assist and protect each other], for in mine own image have I made man [man is in a different category than all of God’s other creations; people are expected to exercise the virtues of God in their relationships with each other]. (JST Genesis 9:10-13, with inserted comments from David J. Ridges)

I specifically noted the Prophets translation - "blood shall not be shed, only for meat, to save your lives; and the blood of every beast will I require at your hands".  This suggests to me that we will be held accountable when "killing" animals just for sport or inother words, the desire to kill.