Leviticus 11:7
in Leviticus 11And the pig, though it has a split hoof completely divided, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the swine, because he parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, but cheweth not the cud, he is unclean unto you.
KJV
And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you.
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This verse in Leviticus 11
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThe all-wise Educator, by the lips of Moses, compared association with corrupt men to living with swine when he forbade the ancient people to partake of swine. He made it plain in those words that they who invoke God should not seek the company of the unclean who, like swine, revel in bodily pleasures and filthy habits of life and impure delights, itching for evil-minded pleasures of sex.
This site's exposition
spake unto Moses and to Aaron
on Leviticus 11:1-8
The speech is addressed to Aaron as well as to Moses, because Leviticus 10:10-11 had just made the priest the man who puts difference between clean and unclean and teaches it to Israel. Land animals are settled by a test rather than by a list, two signs held together, a parted hoof and a chewed cud. The four creatures named in verses 4 to 7 are the near misses, each carrying one sign and lacking the other, so the rule is argued from its hardest cases. Verse 8 forbids touching the carcase as well as eating the flesh, and that is where the chapter turns from diet to contact.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
It is then proper that the barbarian philosophy, on which it is our business to speak, should prophesy also obscurely and by symbols, as was evinced. Such are the injunctions of Moses: "These common things, the sow, the hawk, the eagle and the raven, are not to be eaten." For the sow is the emblem of voluptuous and unclean lust of food and lecherous and filthy licentiousness in venery, always prurient, and material, and lying in the mire and fattening for slaughter and destruction.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be cloven footed,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
He divide the hoof ... - It is cloven-footed and completely, etc. See Lev 11:3 note. Of all the quadrupeds of which the Law forbids the flesh to be eaten, the pig seems to have been regarded as the most unclean. Compare the marginal references. Several other nations have agreed with the Hebrews in this respect: the reason being that its flesh is unwholesome, especially in warm climates.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
the swine--It is a filthy, foul-feeding animal, and it lacks one of the natural provisions for purifying the system, "it cheweth not the cud"; in hot climates indulgence in swine's flesh is particularly liable to produce leprosy, scurvy, and various cutaneous eruptions. It was therefore strictly avoided by the Israelites.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
But the animals that may be eaten are those which "part the hoof as well as chew the cud," and this is another means of freeing the flesh of the animal from noxious substances.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
And the swine - חזיר chazir, one of the most gluttonous, libidinous, and filthy quadrupeds in the universe; and, because of these qualities, sacred to the Venus of the Greeks and Romans, and the Friga of our Saxon ancestors; and perhaps on these accounts forbidden, as well as on account of its flesh being strong and difficult to digest, affording a very gross kind of aliment, apt to produce cutaneous, scorbutic, and scrofulous disorders, especially in hot climates.
The words behind it
16 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 |
| הַ֠חֲזִיר | hachazir | the pig | H2386 → | |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| מַפְרִ֨יס | mafris | [is] dividing in two | H6536 → | 14 times |
| פַּרְסָ֜ה | parsah | a hoof | H6541 → | 21 times |
| ה֗וּא | hu' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| וְשֹׁסַ֥ע | veshosa' | and [is] cleaving | H8156 → | 9 times |
| שֶׁ֙סַע֙ | shesa' | a cleft of | H8157 → | 4 times |
| פַּרְסָ֔ה | parsah | a hoof | H6541 → | 21 times |
| וְה֖וּא | vehu' | and it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| גֵּרָ֣ה | gerah | cud | H1625 → | 11 times |
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִגָּ֑ר | yigar | it ruminates | H1641 → | |
| טָמֵ֥א | tame' | [is] unclean | H2931 → | 88 times |
| ה֖וּא | hu' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| לָכֶֽם׃ | lakhem | to <the> you |
וְאֶת־and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
הַ֠חֲזִירthe pig
hachazirH2386 →
כִּֽי־that
ki-H3588 →4482 times
מַפְרִ֨יס[is] dividing in two
mafrisH6536 →14 times
פַּרְסָ֜הa hoof
parsahH6541 →21 times
ה֗וּאit
hu'H1931 →1879 times
וְשֹׁסַ֥עand [is] cleaving
veshosa'H8156 →9 times
שֶׁ֙סַע֙a cleft of
shesa'H8157 →4 times
פַּרְסָ֔הa hoof
parsahH6541 →21 times
וְה֖וּאand it
vehu'H1931 →1879 times
גֵּרָ֣הcud
gerahH1625 →11 times
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יִגָּ֑רit ruminates
yigarH1641 →
טָמֵ֥א[is] unclean
tame'H2931 →88 times
ה֖וּאit
hu'H1931 →1879 times
לָכֶֽם׃to <the> you
lakhem
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 7:6Do not give dogs what is holy; do not throw your pearls before swine. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.
it leads to
- Proverbs 9:7–8
He who corrects a mocker brings shame on himself; he who rebukes a wicked man taints himself.
- Proverbs 23:9
Do not speak to a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
- Matthew 10:14–15
And if anyone will not welcome you or heed your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.
- Proverbs 26:11
As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.
- Matthew 15:26
But Jesus replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
- Proverbs 9:7–8
Through
Isaiah 65:4sitting among the graves, spending nights in secret places, eating the meat of pigs and polluted broth from their bowls.
it leads to
- Isaiah 66:17
“Those who consecrate and purify themselves to enter the groves—to follow one in the center of those who eat the flesh of swine and vermin and rats—will perish together,” declares the LORD.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 66:17
Through
Isaiah 66:17“Those who consecrate and purify themselves to enter the groves—to follow one in the center of those who eat the flesh of swine and vermin and rats—will perish together,” declares the LORD.
it leads to
- Isaiah 65:3–4
to a people who continually provoke Me to My face, sacrificing in the gardens and burning incense on altars of brick,
- Isaiah 65:3–4
Through
Isaiah 66:3Whoever slaughters an ox is like one who slays a man; whoever sacrifices a lamb is like one who breaks a dog’s neck; whoever presents a grain offering is like one who offers pig’s…
it leads to
- Proverbs 15:8
The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.
- Proverbs 15:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Leviticus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor Book 3; Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata Book 5; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.