What Does Deuteronomy 14:11 Mean in the King James?

Of all clean birds ye shall eat.

Deuteronomy 14:11 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

THE KEY

The Hebrew root behind “clean” names both cleanness and becoming clean, so the boundary around this meal carries more than a label.

THE MEANING

The verse gives you a direct permission: you may eat every bird identified as clean. The distinction matters at the table, where a clear yes exists within its boundary.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that a boundary only denies: within it, the verse makes room for a full permission.

THE ROOT

טְהוֹרָה

tehorah

GROWS FROM

ט־ה־ר

ṭ-h-r

The root ⁨טָהַר⁩ (tahar) means to be clean or pure; ⁨טְהוֹרָה⁩ (tehorah) means clean.

This word is not only a label for a kind of bird: its root also names cleanness and becoming clean. Hebrew carries the shared seed across a state and a process, placing the permitted meal within a larger language of cleanness.

ALSO GROWS

tahor: clean, pure

טָהוֹר

The same adjective describes what may be received as food in this verse.

taharah: cleanness, purification

טָהֳרָה

This noun carries the same root from a clean thing to the quality of cleanness.

hittaher: to cleanse oneself, become clean

הִטַּהֵר

This verbal form shows the root can describe becoming clean, not only possessing a clean status.

THE PATTERN

Scripture links what may be received as food with discernment about what is clean.

To make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the beast that may be eaten and the beast that may not be eaten.

Leviticus 11:47 · KJVThis makes the distinction explicit by separating clean from unclean and edible from inedible.

And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.

Acts 10:15 · KJVCleanness again governs what may be received, while the voice challenges calling common what God has cleansed.

For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:

1 Timothy 4:4 · KJVThe verse turns attention to reception: what God creates is not refused when received with thanksgiving.

THE THREAD

Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

Psalm 51:10 · KJV

Psalm 51 uses the same Hebrew word, ⁨טָהוֹר⁩ (tahor, clean), for the heart. Here it marks birds as fit to receive; there it names the cleanness sought within, carrying one root from the table to the inner life.

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