Leviticus11:20
Next VerseTranslation
All of the swarming,
Go to footnote numberflying
Go to footnote number[creatures] that walk
Go to footnote numberon four
Go to footnote number[shall be] detestable
Go to footnote numberto you,
Paraphrase
All of the animals that move in large colonies and can fly and walk with their back in a horizontal orientation, you must consider detestable; do not eat them or touch them.
Footnotes
1
Although this word has often been rendered “creeping”, its meaning is “swarming” and it refers to a large group of small creatures that swarm or move together in a large mass.
2
This word means “flying” and refers to any type of animal equipped for flight. When swarming and flying are put together, we know it refers to a few types of insects.
3
This is the verb for “walk or go”.
4
“four” Today everyone knows that insects have six legs, not four. This is intended to be a contrast between these creatures and the birds, which also fly and walk on their legs. But the birds have only two feet and thus they hop or walk upright. In contrast, the animals in view here walk the same way a four-footed domesticated animal walks, with its back in a horizontal rather than a vertical orientation. However, we will see in a moment that the dietary regulations made a distinction between the four walking legs and the two jumping legs. So these animals do walk on four legs.
5
This is not the word “unclean”, it is different word with a similar meaning; it means “detestable, filth, or an abomination.”