Leviticus 11:14
in Leviticus 11the kite, any kind of falcon,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
and the kite, and the falcon after its kind,
KJV
And the vulture, and the kite after his kind;
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This verse in Leviticus 11
Commentary
6 notes on this verseHe adds too that they are not to eat "kite or mastophage or eagle," meaning "You shall not go near those who make their livelihood by plundering others." He says other similar things under some sort of allegory.
This site's exposition
which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls
on Leviticus 11:13-23
For the fowls the chapter drops the test and gives a bare list, twenty names and no criterion, so a reader learns which birds are excluded without learning what excludes them. Several of the names are argued over in translation, and the older English renderings of cuckow, swan and lapwing are read now as the gull, the water hen and the hoopoe. The Hebrew word covers winged creatures rather than a modern class, which is why the bat closes the list at verse 19. Verses 21 and 22 hold the one permission in the chapter granted out of an abominable class, four kinds of locust with legs above their feet to leap withal, and Mark 1:6 has John the Baptist living on them.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And the vulture, and the kite after his kind.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
The vulture - דאה daah, from the root to fly, and therefore more probably the kite or glede, from its remarkable property of gliding or sailing with expanded wings through the air. The דאה daah is a different bird from the דיה daiyah, which signifies the vulture. See Bochart, vol. iii., col. 195. The kite - איה aiyah, thought by some to be the vulture, by others the merlin. Parkhurst thinks it has its name from the root אוה avah, to covet, because of its rapaciousness; some contend that the kite is meant.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
In Egypt and perhaps in the adjoining countries also, the kite and vulture are often seen together flying in company, or busily pursuing their foul but important office of devouring the carrion and relics of putrefying flesh, which might otherwise pollute the atmosphere. after his kind--that is, the prohibition against eating it extended to the whole species.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
No less than twenty species of birds, all probably then known, are mentioned under this category, and the inference follows that all which are not mentioned were allowed; that is, fowls which subsist on vegetable substances.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Of all fowls [existent], only those mentioned expressly in this section and their species — such as those concerning which it says, after his kind, 208 Verse. or after her kind. Verse.
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. 6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַ֨דָּאָ֔ה | hadaah | the black kite | H1676 → | |
| וְאֶת־ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הָאַיָּ֖ה | haaiyah | the hawk | H344 → | |
| לְמִינָֽהּ׃ | leminah | to kind its | H4327 → | 31 times |
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
הַ֨דָּאָ֔הthe black kite
hadaahH1676 →
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
הָאַיָּ֖הthe hawk
haaiyahH344 →
לְמִינָֽהּ׃to kind its
leminahH4327 →31 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Leviticus

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor Book 3; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch.
