Leviticus 11:7

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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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
swine	הַ֠חֲזִיר Ha.cha.zir	H2386	a hog (perhaps as penned) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
divide	מַפְרִ֨יס maf.Ris	H6536	to break in pieces · verb, hiphil active participle, masculine singular absolute
hoof	פַּרְסָ֜ה par.Sah	H6541	a claw or split hoof · noun, common feminine singular absolute
clovenfooted	וְשֹׁסַ֥ע ve.sho.Sa'	H8156	to split or tear · conjunction + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
cheweth	יִגָּ֑ר yi.Gar	H1641	to drag off roughly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
cud	גֵּרָ֣ה ge.Rah	H1625	the cud (as scraping the throat) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
unclean	טָמֵ֥א ta.Me'	H2931	foul in a religious sense · adjective, masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Deuteronomy 14:8 And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch the…
Isaiah 65:4 Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments, which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
Isaiah 66:3 He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if…
Isaiah 66:17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination,…
Matthew 7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again…
Luke 8:33 Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choke…
Luke 15:15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
2 Peter 2:18-22 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were cle…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Leviticus 11:1-8

Now that Aaron was consecrated a high priest over the house of God, God spoke to him with Moses, and appointed them both as joint-commissioners to deliver his will to the people. He spoke both to Moses and to Aaron about this matter; for it was particularly required of the priests that they should put a difference between clean and unclean, and teach the people to do so. After the flood, when God entered into covenant with Noah and his sons, he allowed them to eat flesh (Gen 9:13), whereas before they were confined to the productions of the earth. But the liberty allowed to the sons of Noah is here limited to the sons of Israel. They might eat flesh, but not all kinds of flesh; some they mus…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Leviticus 11:7

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. Its prohibition was further necessary to prevent their adopting many of the grossest idolatries practised by neighboring nations.

Adam Clarke on Leviticus 11:7

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.

John Gill on Leviticus 11:7

And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be cloven footed,.... Not only its hoofs are parted, but cloven quite through, and so in this respect answers Moses's first descriptive character of clean creatures; though Aristotle (u) and Pliny (w) speak of some kind of swine in Illyricum, Paeonia, and other places, which have solid hoofs; but perhaps these were not properly swine, though so called: yet he cheweth not the cud; and a learned physician observes (x), that such creatures that chew not the cud, so perfect a chyle cannot be elaborated by them as is by those that chew the cud, and therefore their flesh must be less wholesome; and of the swine, he says (y), they have but one belly, a…

The Church Fathers

The 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.
— Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor Book 3

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.
— Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata Book 5

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Ablution — Or washing, was practised, (1.) When a person was initiated into a higher state: e.g., when Aaron and his sons were set apart to the priest’s office, they were washed with water previous to their…
Animal — An organized living creature endowed with sensation. The Levitical law divided animals into clean and unclean, although the distinction seems to have existed before the Flood (Gen. 7:2). The clean…
Beast — This word is used of flocks or herds of grazing animals (Ex. 22:5; Num. 20:4, 8, 11; Ps. 78:48); of beasts of burden (Gen. 45:17); of eatable beasts (Prov. 9:2); and of swift beasts or dromedaries…
Boar — Occurs only in Ps. 80:13. The same Hebrew word is elsewhere rendered “swine” (Lev. 11:7; Deut. 14:8; Prov. 11:22; Isa. 65:4; 66:3, 17). The Hebrews abhorred swine’s flesh, and accordingly none of…
Clean — The various forms of uncleanness according to the Mosaic law are enumerated in Lev. 11-15; Num. 19. The division of animals into clean and unclean was probably founded on the practice of sacrifice.…
Food — Originally the Creator granted the use of the vegetable world for food to man (Gen. 1:29), with the exception mentioned (2:17). The use of animal food was probably not unknown to the antediluvians.…
Law of Moses — Is the whole body of the Mosaic legislation (1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 23:25; Ezra 3:2). It is called by way of eminence simply “the Law” (Heb. Torah, Deut. 1:5; 4:8, 44; 17:18, 19; 27:3, 8). As a written…
Swine — (Heb. hazir), regarded as the most unclean and the most abhorred of all animals (Lev. 11:7; Isa. 65:4; 66:3, 17; Luke 15:15, 16). A herd of swine were drowned in the Sea of Galilee (Luke 8:32, 33).…
B · Unclean: Swine — Unclean: Swine
Cud · and unclean animals were distinguished — and unclean animals were distinguished
Food

Leviticus 11:7

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Leviticus 11:1-8

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Leviticus 11:7

Adam Clarke on Leviticus 11:7

John Gill on Leviticus 11:7

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Leviticus 11:7

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Leviticus 11:1-8

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Leviticus 11:7

Adam Clarke on Leviticus 11:7

John Gill on Leviticus 11:7

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Leviticus 11:4-8

Keil & Delitzsch on Leviticus 11:1-8

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Leviticus 11:5-6

Rashi on Leviticus 11:3