Deuteronomy 14:4

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2 ^aFor you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

Clean and Unclean Meat

3 ^a“You shall not eat any¹ detestable thing.

4 ^aThese are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,

5 the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the¹ mountain goat, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.

6 And you may eat every animal with cloven hooves, having the hoof split into two parts, and that chews the cud, among the animals.

7 Nevertheless, of those that chew the cud or have cloven hooves, you shall not eat, such as these: the camel, the hare, and the rock hyrax; for they chew the cud but do not have cloven hooves; they are unclean for you.

8 Also the swine is unclean for you, because it has cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud; you shall not eat their flesh ^aor touch their dead carcasses.

9 ^a“These you may eat of all that are in the waters: you may eat all that have fins and scales.

10 And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

11 “All clean birds you may eat.

12 ^aBut these you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard,

13 the red kite, the falcon, and the kite after their kinds;

Commentaries:

Adam Clarke

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Deuteronomy 14:4

These are the beasts which ye shall eat - On Leviticus 11. I have entered into considerable detail relative to the clean and unclean animals there mentioned. For the general subject, the reader is referred to the notes on that chapter; but as there are particulars mentioned here which Moses does not introduce in Leviticus, it will be necessary to consider them in this place.

The ox - shor : Bos, fifth order Pecora, of the genus Mammalia, species 41. This term includes all clean animals of the beeve kind; not only the ox properly so called, but also the bull, the cow, heifer, and calf.

The sheep - seh : Ovis, fifth order Pecora, of the genus Mammalia, species 40; including the ram, the wether, the ewe, and the lamb.

The goat - az : Capra, fifth order Pecora, of the genus Mammalia, species 39; including the he-goat, she-goat, and kid. The words in the text, seh chesabim , signify the lamb or young of sheep; and seh izzim , the young or kid of goats: but this is a Hebrew idiom which signifies every creature of the genus, as ben enosh and ben adam , son of man, signify any human being. See Psalms 144:3; Job 25:6.

The flesh of these animals is universally allowed to be the most wholesome and nutritive. They live on the very best vegetables; and having several stomachs, their food is well concocted, and the chyle formed from it the most pure because the best elaborated, as it is well refined before it enters into the blood. On ruminating or chewing the cud, see the note on Leviticus 11:3.

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Clean and Unclean Meat

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