Deuteronomy 14:16
in Deuteronomy 14the little owl, the great owl, the white owl,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
the little owl, and the great owl, and the horned owl,
KJV
The little owl, and the great owl, and the swan,
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This verse in Deuteronomy 14
Commentary
3 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
Of all the creatures that live in the water
on Deuteronomy 14:9-20
Water creatures get a test and no list, “fins and scales”, so the rule reaches species nobody has named. The birds are handled the other way, by naming what is forbidden.
This site's exposition
the little owl, the great owl
Three owls stand in this verse, the little, the great and the white, of the five owls on the list. Isaiah 34:11 and Zephaniah 2:14 set the desert owl and the screech owl in ruined places. Clement of Alexandria held that such laws hid their spiritual reasons.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Of all clean fowls you may eat. [4.] They are further forbidden, First, To eat the flesh of any creature that died of itself, because the blood was not separated from it, and, besides the ceremonial uncleanness which it lay under (from Lev. xi. 39 ), it is not wholesome food, nor ordinarily used among us, except by the poor.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
התנשמת — This is the chauve-souris in old French; (English = bat).
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 7 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
5 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַכּ֥וֹס | hakos | the little owl | H3563 → | |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַיַּנְשׁ֖וּף | haiyanshuf | the great owl | H3244 → | |
| וְהַתִּנְשָֽׁמֶת׃ | vehatinshamet | and the barn owl | H8580 → |
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַכּ֥וֹסthe little owl
hakosH3563 →
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
הַיַּנְשׁ֖וּףthe great owl
haiyanshufH3244 →
וְהַתִּנְשָֽׁמֶת׃and the barn owl
vehatinshametH8580 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
About Deuteronomy
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor Book 2; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.