What Does Leviticus 11:41 Mean?
And every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth is a recoil. Do not eat it.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth shall be an abomination; it shall not be eaten.THE KEY
The Hebrew names it as the swarm that swarms, then draws its boundary at eating.
THE MEANING
This verse marks the ground-swarming creature as detestable for food and excludes it from eating. Its teeming presence belongs to the living world; the boundary concerns what is eaten.
THE ROOT
הַשֶּׁרֶץ הַשֹּׁרֵץ
ha-sheretz ha-shoretz
GROWS FROM
שרץ
to swarm, teem, or multiply
“swarming thing” in this verse is ha-sheretz ha-shoretz. The Hebrew repeats one root as noun and verb: roughly, “the swarm that swarms.” “Creeping” can sound like mere locomotion, while the root carries the image of teeming life; this verse places that ground life outside the food boundary.
ALSO GROWS
sheretz: a swarming or teeming creature
שֶׁרֶץ
This is the creature named in the verse, carrying the root’s sense of abundance.
sharats: to swarm, teem, or multiply
שָׁרַץ
The verb behind the repeated description links the creature to the act of swarming.
שֶׁקֶץ
sheqets
GROWS FROM
שקץ
to regard as detestable or loathsome
“a recoil” in this verse is sheqets. Sheqets names the creature’s status in this food rule. It nearly echoes sheretz in sound, binding creature and food-status in the Hebrew ear, though the two words have distinct roots.
ALSO GROWS
shaqats: to regard as detestable; to abhor
שָׁקַץ
This verb carries the judgment expressed by the noun sheqets.
shiqquts: a detestable thing, often an abhorrent idol
שִׁקּוּץ
This related noun shows the root’s language of what is regarded as loathsome.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents teeming creatures as part of life, then places eating under named boundaries.
And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarming living soul, and let birds fly over the earth, upon the face of the expanse of the heavens."And every swarming thing that flies is unclean to you; they shall not be eaten.But Peter said, By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything common or unclean.THE THREAD
And God said, "Let the waters swarm with swarming living soul, and let birds fly over the earth, upon the face of the expanse of the heavens."Genesis uses שרץ in both “bring forth abundantly” and “moving creature”; Leviticus repeats that swarm-root for what moves across the earth. The root names teeming life in both places, while Leviticus adds the food boundary.
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