A large organ in the abdomen that performs many functions necessary for life. The writer of Proverbs knew how important the liver was for life when he wrote that an arrow wound to the liver would cause death (Proverbs 7:23). In the Bible, the liver is most often mentioned when describing animal sacrifices (Exodus 29:13, 22; Leviticus 3:4, 10, 15).
In ancient Babylon, sheep liver was sometimes used for fortune-telling. Each tiny detail of the liver was examined for omens. Archaeologists have recovered bronze and baked-clay models of sheep livers. They date to the 16th century BC. Evidently this is the use of the liver made by the king of Babylon in Ezekiel 21:21. This use of the sheep liver was popular until the Greeks. It rivaled astrology for many centuries.