Translation
And PETER said, “No, never, LORD, for never have I eaten anything common and
Go to footnote numberunclean.” (See comments below.)
Paraphrase
SOLID AS A ROCK answered, “Oh SOVEREIGN RULER OF ALL THINGS, I don’t know what you are up to here, but I would never do that. I have never eaten any animal that is common and unclean, and I have no desire to change that now.”
Footnotes
1
Some translations have rendered this phrase “common or clean”, but the use of or is unwarranted. The conjunction used here is usually rendered “and.” Its other meanings are “also, even, too, both, so then” and rarely “but, for, if, or, therefore, when, yet”. You can see from these lists that the idea of “in addition to” is much more likely here than the idea of “in contrast to”. Tying together the word “common” with the word “unclean” by means of “and” was a good reflection of Jewish thought since everything exists in a state that includes two considerations, not just one.
PETER USED THE WELL-KNOWN DESIGNATIONS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
Peter referred to the dual category of common and unclean, which was not allowed as food, in contrast to common and clean, which was indeed acceptable as food.