What Does Leviticus 11:20 Mean in the King James?
All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you.
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 phrase names a winged swarm whose actual gait stays on the ground.
THE MEANING
A wing does not erase this creature’s ground movement: the verse names a winged swarm walking on four and calls it detestable to you. Its way of moving is part of what it is, so the label follows the whole body rather than one striking feature.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the assumption that wings alone define a creature’s kind; its ground-walking movement matters too.
THE ROOT
שֶׁרֶץ
sherets
GROWS FROM
שׁרץ
To swarm, teem, or multiply.
The Hebrew names the creature by its swarming quality, then describes how it walks. English “creep” can hide that two-part picture: a winged swarm with a ground-bound gait.
ALSO GROWS
sharats: To swarm or teem.
שָׁרַץ
The verb shows that the creature’s name carries the sense of teeming life.
sherets: A swarming creature.
שֶׁרֶץ
This noun gives the creature its category before the verse describes its movement.
הֹלֵךְ
holekh
GROWS FROM
הלך
To walk or go.
“going” in this verse is holekh. The verse uses a word for walking to describe literal bodily movement. The creature is not defined by its wings alone; its way across the ground is part of the description.
ALSO GROWS
halikhah: Walking or a course of movement.
הֲלִיכָה
This noun keeps the root’s concrete sense of movement visible.
holekh: One who walks; walking.
הוֹלֵךְ
The participle describes what the creature is doing here: walking on four.
שֶׁקֶץ
sheqets
GROWS FROM
שׁקץ
To be detestable or abhorrent.
“abomination” in this verse is sheqets. The verse applies a strong category to the creature; it does not merely describe an unusual shape. The word marks it as detestable to you.
ALSO GROWS
shaqats: To regard as detestable.
שָׁקַץ
The verb shows the force behind the label applied to the creature.
shiqquts: A detestable thing; an abomination.
שִׁקּוּץ
This related noun carries the same force of abhorrence.
THE PATTERN
Scripture marks creaturely categories by both kind and actual movement, not by one visible feature alone.
Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth;And every creeping thing that flieth is unclean unto you: they shall not be eaten.And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.THE THREAD
And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.The root שׁרץ (sharats, “swarm” or “teem”) links the noun שֶׁרֶץ (sherets, “swarming creature”) here with the abundant life in Genesis. The later boundary does not erase that creature’s place among the forms of life named at creation.
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