Verse 5
Surely your blood - will I require; at the hand of every beast - This is very obscure, but if taken literally it seems to be an awful warning against cruelty to the brute creation; and from it we may conclude that horse-racers, hare-hunters, bull-baiters, and cock-fighters shall be obliged to give an account to God for every creature they have wantonly destroyed. Instead of חיה chaiyah , "beast," the Samaritan reads Yod Kaph chai , "living," any "living creature or person;" this makes a very good sense, and equally forbids cruelty either to men or brutes.
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