Scripture explorer

“And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.”

In context: The first diet described in Scripture, given in the garden before the flood. It is a description of what God gave, not a later command binding all generations.

“Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.”

In context: After the flood, God explicitly permits animal food to Noah and his sons.

“But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.”

In context: The permission of meat comes with one restriction: the blood. This restriction appears again in Leviticus and in Acts 15.

“These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.”

In context: The dietary law given to Israel at Sinai. Its stated purpose in the chapter is holiness and distinction, not a modern nutrition plan.

“And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you. Of their flesh shall ye not eat, and their carcase shall ye not touch; they are unclean to you.”

In context: Scripture gives the criterion—cud-chewing and a cloven hoof—and directs Israel toward holiness and belonging to God. Medical explanations go beyond what this passage reveals and should be identified as interpretation.

“These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat.”

In context: The criterion for water creatures under the Mosaic law: fins and scales.

“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.”

In context: The reason given for the blood prohibition is atonement and the sanctity of life.

“And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou lack the salt of the covenant of thy God from thine offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.”

In context: This concerns offerings in worship and the covenant faithfulness they expressed. Questions about daily sodium belong to wise care of the body and are not the teaching of this verse.

“Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing. These are the beasts which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat, the hart, and the roebuck, and the fallow deer, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the wild ox, and the chamois. And every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that ye shall eat.”

In context: Moses repeats the dietary distinction to a new generation before entering the land.

“And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.”

In context: Hunger in the wilderness taught dependence on God, not a diet technique.

“Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.”

In context: Daniel's request was about avoiding defilement in a pagan court. The ten-day test is a narrative, not a command to imitate a menu.

“It is not good to eat much honey: so for men to search their own glory is not glory.”

In context: A proverb about excess. Honey is good; too much of a good thing is the warning.

“Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh: for the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty; and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.”

In context: The warning is aimed at habitual excess and its consequences, not at wine or meat as such.

“Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.”

In context: A vivid warning against being captured by drink.

“Hast thou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it.”

In context: Enjoyment with a limit: eat what is sufficient.

“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”

In context: Wisdom literature repeatedly links strong drink with loss of judgment.

“And also that every man should eat and drink, and that he should enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.”

In context: Eating and drinking with enjoyment is framed as a gift, not a guilty pleasure.

“He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart.”

In context: Bread, oil and wine appear as provisions of God's ordinary generosity.

“I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.”

In context: The body is treated as God's work, which grounds the call to care for it.

“It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.”

In context: Overwork is treated as a spiritual problem, and sleep as a gift.

“Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work.”

In context: Rest is commanded as a rhythm built into the week, with work commanded alongside it.

“But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

In context: Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3 at the end of a forty-day fast.

“Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret.”

In context: Jesus says "when ye fast", assuming the practice, and directs it away from display.

“Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.”

In context: Fasting is tied to seasons and occasions, not to a fixed calendar for everyone.

“There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.”

In context: The dispute in the chapter is about ritual hand-washing traditions. How far this statement extends to the Levitical food laws is debated among Christians.

“And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.”

In context: Peter himself interprets the vision in verse 28 as being about people, not only about animals. Both readings are discussed among Christians.

“For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; that ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication.”

In context: The Jerusalem council's short list for Gentile believers keeps the blood restriction.

“For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs. Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.”

In context: Paul's instruction is about not despising or judging a brother over food.

“For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”

In context: Food is not the centre of the kingdom. This does not make food unimportant; it puts it in order.

“Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.”

In context: Paul writes this in a passage about sexual purity, and states a principle that reaches the whole use of the body.

“And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection.”

In context: Athletic discipline is used as a picture of spiritual self-control.

“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”

In context: The foundation verse of this platform: ordinary eating is placed under the glory of God.

“All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.”

In context: Liberty is measured by what is helpful and by what gains power over us.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

In context: Self-control appears as fruit grown by the Spirit, not merely willpower.

“Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.”

In context: Paul describes appetite enthroned as a god. The issue is worship, not calories.

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

In context: Anxiety is met with prayer and thanksgiving. This is not a promise that symptoms disappear.

“For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”

In context: Written against teachers who forbade foods. Thanksgiving, not a food list, is the emphasis here.

“Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.”

In context: A specific, personal instruction to Timothy. It is not a general prescription for everyone.

“For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.”

In context: Bodily training has some profit; godliness has more. It is a comparison, not a dismissal of the body.

“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.”

In context: A personal greeting and wish, not a guarantee of health for every believer.

“Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick.”

In context: Prayer, elders and oil appear together in the care of the sick.

“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.”

In context: One of the central passages in the Christian discussion of dietary rules. Interpretations differ.

“And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.”

In context: Work appears before the fall, as part of a good creation.

“Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad: and thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee.”

In context: Camp sanitation is regulated in the law, centuries before germ theory.

“He shall dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be.”

In context: The law includes separation for infectious skin disease, a practice we would call quarantine.

“Give us this day our daily bread.”

In context: Jesus teaches his disciples to ask God for ordinary food, one day at a time.

“And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”

In context: The deepest hunger in Scripture is not solved by food.

“Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”

In context: Paul is collecting help for the poor believers in Jerusalem. Giving is decided in the heart beforehand — it is never pressured, guilted or demanded.

“Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.”

In context: Jesus sends the twelve out to serve. What God gives freely is to be passed on freely — ministry and help are never for sale.

“I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

In context: Paul's farewell to the Ephesian elders: honest work should lift the weak, and giving brings a deeper joy than getting.

“He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.”

In context: Mercy to a poor person is pictured as a loan to God Himself. It is poetry of trust, not an investment promise of financial return.

“For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.”

In context: Jesus watches temple offerings and praises a poor widow who gives two small coins. God measures the heart, not the amount.