What Does Leviticus 11:9 Mean in the King James?
These shall ye eat of all that are in the waters: whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat.
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 boundary is not the water a creature lives in, but the two traits it carries: fins and scales.
THE MEANING
The verse draws a line through the life of the waters: what has both fins and scales belongs within what is eaten. The creature’s traits, not simply its place in sea, river, or water, mark that boundary.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Every creature in the water is fit for food simply because it lives there.
THE ROOT
תֹּאכֵלוּ
toʾkhelu
GROWS FROM
אכל
to eat, consume
The root אָכַל (ʾākal, “eat”) frames the verse: eating is named before the criteria and repeated after them. Its branches name both the act and what can be consumed, placing a boundary around food within the waters’ abundance.
ALSO GROWS
ʾokhel: food
אֹכֶל
The noun names what the verse identifies as fit to be eaten.
maʾakhal: food, foodstuff
מַאֲכָל
This related word makes visible the same root’s movement from eating to what is edible.
THE PATTERN
Food boundaries are marked by observable traits of the creature.
Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.And whatsoever hath not fins and scales ye may not eat; it is unclean unto you.THE THREAD
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:Both verses use אָכַל (ʾākal, “eat”): Genesis opens eating broadly, while Leviticus names which creatures from the waters fall within what is eaten. The same root carries provision and a boundary, depending on what the verse names as food.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us