What Does Deuteronomy 14:12 Mean in the King James?

But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,

Deuteronomy 14:12 · 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 name behind “ossifrage” shares its root with the word for a hoof that is “parted,” making division the hidden thread in this food boundary.

THE MEANING

This verse names the eagle, ossifrage, and osprey as birds you do not eat. The boundary is concrete: each is named as food that remains outside your table.

THE ROOT

פֶּרֶס

peres

GROWS FROM

פרס

To split, divide, or break apart.

The Hebrew name ⁨פֶּרֶס⁩ (peres, “ossifrage”) is linked to the root ⁨פרס⁩ (p-r-s, “split or divide”), echoing the English name “ossifrage,” or bone-breaker. The same root marks a hoof as parted in Leviticus 11:3 and bread as dealt out in Isaiah 58:7: division can describe both a creature’s form and food portioned for another.

ALSO GROWS

paros: To divide or deal out.

פָּרֹס

In Isaiah 58:7, this verb describes dealing bread to the hungry, showing the root’s sense of portioning.

mafriset: Parting or dividing.

מַפְרֶסֶת

In Leviticus 11:3, it describes the hoof that is parted, using the same root within the text’s food distinctions.

THE PATTERN

Scripture makes boundaries around eating concrete by naming what is withheld.

But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Genesis 2:17 · KJVThe boundary is attached to a specific named tree and a specific act of eating.

And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,

Leviticus 11:13 · KJVThe list names the birds that fall outside what may be eaten.

But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.

Acts 10:14 · KJVPeter names the categories he understands to be outside what he may eat.

THE THREAD

Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.

Leviticus 11:3 · KJV

The Hebrew word ⁨מַפְרֶסֶת⁩ (mafriset, “parting”) behind “parteth” shares the root ⁨פרס⁩ (p-r-s, “split or divide”) with ⁨פֶּרֶס⁩ (peres, “ossifrage”). The food distinctions use this root for both the excluded bird and the split hoof that marks an animal as edible.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us