What Does Leviticus 11:15 Mean in the King James?

Every raven after his kind;

Leviticus 11:15 · 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

“After his kind” marks the raven as a whole category of bird, not as an individual raven.

THE MEANING

This line names the raven as a kind among the birds barred as food. The boundary applies to the kind as a whole, not to one bird’s behavior.

THE ROOT

מִין

min

GROWS FROM

מ־י־ן

To portion out or sort into kinds; the etymology is uncertain.

The Hebrew phrase ⁨לְמִינוֹ⁩ (leminō) means “according to its kind.” The ending means “its,” so the line names a category of ravens rather than focusing on a male bird or an individual’s conduct.

ALSO GROWS

leminō: according to its kind

לְמִינוֹ

This is the phrase used in Leviticus 11:15; it makes the classification apply to the raven kind.

leminēhū: according to its kind

לְמִינֵהוּ

This related form recurs in creation’s descriptions of living creatures, linking the verse’s classification to a wider pattern of naming kinds.

THE PATTERN

Scripture names living forms by kind, treating their distinctions as part of how creation is recognized.

And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:21 · KJVThe creation account uses the same kind-language to name the distinct forms of living creatures.

For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:

James 3:7 · KJVJames speaks of birds and other creatures as recognizable kinds.

But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.

1 Corinthians 15:38 · KJVThe image of each seed receiving its own body expresses the distinct forms carried through creation.

THE THREAD

He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.

Psalm 147:9 · KJV

The Hebrew word for “ravens,” ⁨עֹרֵב⁩ (ʿōrēḇ), appears in both verses. Leviticus names the raven kind within a food boundary; the psalm shows young ravens crying and receiving food, holding that boundary alongside the creature’s place in provision.

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