Deuteronomy 14:3 — Word Study
WLCלֹ֥א תֹאכַ֖ל כָּל־ תּוֹעֵבָֽה׃
BSAYou must notlôʼ [under any circumstances] eatʼâkal▸ [consume, devour] anykôl [all manner of] detestable thingtôwʻêbah [abomination, something disgusting, repulsive]
| Greek | English | Parsing |
|---|---|---|
| לֹ֥א | not | Particle |
| תֹאכַ֖ל | you will eat | Verb, Qal, imperfect second person masculine singular |
| כָּל־ | any | Noun common, masculine singular construct |
| תּוֹעֵבָֽה׃ | disgusting thing | Noun common, feminine singular absolute |
Every word in the verse. Click a row to open it in the panel on the left.
| BSB | You must not eat any detestable thing. |
| KJV | ¶ Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing. |
| ASV | Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing. |
| YLT | 'Thou dost not eat any abominable thing; |
| WEB | You shall not eat any abominable thing. |
| BBE | No disgusting thing may be your food. |
The translations agree on the prohibition against eating detestable things.
The sentence consists of a main clause with a clear prohibition followed by the object of that prohibition.







8 commentators on this verse
Gill, Jamieson, Poole, Trapp & more — read them ›
clause
verbאָכַל
The sentence as the grammar sees it Open the tree ›
Every word here is used elsewhere in the Old Testament.
Bars are logarithmic — אֵת, the commonest word in the Hebrew Bible, stands about 11,000 times, so a linear scale would leave everything else invisible. Click a row to open that word.
Deep Study — Deuteronomy 14:3
Sections marked generated are written from the data on this page rather than by a named author. Everything else — the lexicon entries, the cross references, the manuscript readings, the counts — is quoted from its source unchanged.
Context — Laws on Clean and Unclean Foodsgenerated
Deuteronomy 14:3 is part of a larger section where Moses instructs the Israelites on dietary laws. These laws are intended to set them apart as a holy people, emphasizing their unique relationship with God. Following this command, the text continues with a list of permissible animals, reinforcing the importance of adhering to God's standards for cleanliness.
Cross References
| Reference | Text (BSB) | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leviticus 11:43 | Do not defile yourselves by any crawling creature; do not become unclean or defiled by them. |
| 2 | Leviticus 20:25 | You are therefore to distinguish between clean and unclean animals and birds. Do not become contaminated by any animal or bird, or by anything that crawls on the ground; I have set these apart as unclean for you. |
| 3 | Isaiah 65:4 | sitting among the graves, spending nights in secret places, eating the meat of pigs and polluted broth from their bowls. |
| 4 | Ezekiel 4:14 | “Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have not eaten anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.” |
| 5 | Acts 10:12–14 | It contained all kinds of four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth, as well as birds of the air. |
The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — 8 references, hung on the phrase they belong to
The Key Word — תּוֹעֵבָה, to.'e.Vahgenerated
The word תּוֹעֵבָה (to.'e.Vah) means 'abomination' and is derived from a root that conveys moral disgust. It is used in contexts that highlight idolatry, unclean food, or ethical wickedness, indicating what is unacceptable in God's eyes.
In this verse, it specifies the types of food that the Israelites are forbidden to eat, marking them as unclean and offensive to God. The use of this term underscores the seriousness of maintaining ritual purity and the implications of consuming what is deemed detestable.
How Translations Differ — measured against the Berean Standard Biblegenerated
All translations agree on the rendering of תּוֹעֵבָה as 'detestable thing' or similar terms, reflecting the nature of the prohibition.
Sentence Structuregenerated
The main verb of the verse is תֹאכַ֖ל (to.Khal), meaning 'you will eat.' It is negated by לֹ֥א (lo'), which establishes the prohibition.
The structure is straightforward, with the negation setting the tone for the command, followed by the object כָּל־ תּוֹעֵבָה (kol to'evah), meaning 'any detestable thing.' This highlights the comprehensive nature of the prohibition.
Septuagint Backgroundgenerated
In the Septuagint, תּוֹעֵבָה is rendered as βδέλυγμα (bdelygma), which also conveys a sense of something that is morally repugnant or disgusting. This choice aligns with the Hebrew meaning but emphasizes the ethical implications of the term.
The Greek translation reflects the seriousness of the command, indicating that such items are not only unclean but also offensive to God.
In plain words — the whole versegenerated
Deuteronomy 14:3 instructs the Israelites not to eat any detestable thing. This command is part of the laws given to maintain their holiness as God's chosen people. It emphasizes the importance of adhering to God's standards for what is clean and unclean.
Frequently Asked Questionsgenerated
It refers to anything considered morally or ritually unclean, such as certain foods or practices that are offensive to God.
They set Israel apart as a holy people and reflect God's desire for His people to maintain purity in their lives.
While these specific laws may not apply to Christians today, the principle of avoiding what is morally repugnant remains relevant.
We can learn the importance of obedience to God's commands and the need to be mindful of what we consume, both physically and spiritually.
Reflection Questionsgenerated
- What are some examples of things in my life that I consider detestable or unclean?
- How can I apply the principle of this command to my daily choices?
- In what ways does this command reflect God's character and His expectations for His people?
- How can I encourage others to follow God's standards for purity in their lives?
The early church on this verse — how the Fathers read it
Early Christian writers reference this verse to discuss the importance of dietary laws in maintaining holiness, as seen in the works of Clement of Alexandria and Richard Challoner.
Among the Jews, frugality was made a matter of precept by a very wise dispensation of the law. The Educator forbade them the use of innumerable things.Early Church Fathers on Deuteronomy 14 →
Unclean: See the annotations on Lev. 11.Early Church Fathers on Deuteronomy 14 →
Commentators on this verse — 8 expositors, verse by verse
Each of these wrote on Deuteronomy 14:3 itself, not merely on the chapter around it.
John Gill1697–1771Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleThou shall not eat any abominable thing. That is so either in its own nature, or because forbidden by the Lord; what are such are declared in the following verses.
Read John Gill on Deuteronomy 14 →
Robert Jamieson1802–1880Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's CommentaryThou shalt not eat any abominable thing. Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing - i:e., anything forbidden as unclean, (see the notes at Leviticus 11:1-47.) BEASTS.
Read Robert Jamieson on Deuteronomy 14 →
Matthew Poole1624–1679Matthew Poole's Commentary on the Holy Biblei.e. Unclean and forbidden by me, which therefore should be abominable to you.
Read Matthew Poole on Deuteronomy 14 →
John Trapp1601–1669Trapp's Complete Commentary on the Old and New TestamentsDeuteronomy 14:3 Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.Ver. 3. Thou shalt not eat any abominable.] &c. This law taught them to abstain from communion with wicked men, in whom are found the malignities and evil properties of all other creatures. They feed hard on sin, the devil’ s excrement; as the Tartars eat the carrion, carcasses of horses, camels, asses, cats, dogs, yea, when they stink and are full of maggots, and hold them as dainty as we do venison.
Read John Trapp on Deuteronomy 14 →
Charles John Ellicott1819–1905Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(3) Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.—That is, anything which Jehovah has pronounced abominable. The distinctions between His creatures were alike established and removed by the Creator. Yet, no doubt, they had also a sanitary purpose in relation to the chosen people.
Read Charles John Ellicott on Deuteronomy 14 →
CambridgeThe Cambridge Bible for Schools and CollegesOn Clean And Unclean Animals (Deuteronomy 14:3-20) First, some remarks are necessary on the form of the deuteronomic list. While most of the names have been reasonably identified with animals still found in Palestine—the credit of this is largely due to Canon Tristram—yet full success in such identification is not, and may never be, possible. Especially precarious is the equation of the names with single species. The names are generic, not specific. They are popular. They give proofs of a close observation of the structure and habits of the animals. But the statement that the hare and the rock-badger chew the cud is not correct; though Arab hunters still assert this of the rock-badger (see…
Read Cambridge on Deuteronomy 14 →
Albert Barnes1798–1870Barnes' Notes on the BibleCompare Lev. 11. The variations here, whether omissions or additions, are probably to be explained by the time and circumstances of the speaker.
Read Albert Barnes on Deuteronomy 14 →
Daniel Denison Whedon1808–1885Whedon's Commentary on the BibleTHE ANIMALS THAT WERE TO BE EATEN AND THOSE THAT WERE , Deuteronomy 14:3-21. 3. Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing — That is, any thing forbidden as unclean. Comp. Leviticus 11.
Read Daniel Denison Whedon on Deuteronomy 14 →The verse in English, compared — 17 translations, and where they part company
Every translation on this page is a decision someone had to make and commit to. Read down a column and you see one translator's judgement; read across a row and you see the range the Greek actually allows. The BSB is the wording the rest of this page is measured against, so it is listed first.
Modern formal
You must not eat any detestable thing.
You shall not eat any abominable thing.
You must not eat any detestable thing.
You must not eat any forbidden thing.
Tyndale line
¶ Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.
Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.
Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.
Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.
Thou shalt eate no maner of abomination.
Strictly literal
Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.
'Thou dost not eat any abominable thing;
You do not eat any abomination;
Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.
You must not eat any abominable thing.
From the Latin
Eat not the things that are unclean.
Simplified
You must not eat anything repulsive.
No disgusting thing may be your food.
Counted from the translations carried on this site, not from a survey of every English Bible. A rendering shared by many versions is usually inherited rather than independently arrived at — the Tyndale line in particular runs through most of them.
The sentence as the grammar sees it — from the MACULA Hebrew treebank
This is not our own analysis: it is the scholarly syntax tree for the verse, showing how the clause actually holds together.
Boxes are the grammarian's groupings — clause, noun phrase, prepositional phrase.
The four witnesses to this verse — Masoretic, Septuagint, Samaritan, Qumran
The Masoretic Text reads לֹ֥א תֹאכַ֖ל כָּל־ תּוֹעֵבָֽה, while the Samaritan Pentateuch differs slightly with לא תאכלו כל תועבה, using the plural form 'you shall not eat.' The Dead Sea Scrolls have a similar reading to the Masoretic Text, though some words were restored by an editor.
לֹ֥א תֹאכַ֖ל כָּל־ תּוֹעֵבָֽה׃
4 of the 4 words are matched. This is the word-by-word correspondence, not the Septuagint's own sentence — its word order and its articles are its own.
לא תאכלו כל תועבה
1 word differs from the Masoretic Text: תאכלו (eat)
[לא] [תאכל] [כל] [תועבה]
nothing on the leather here — 4 supplied entire by an editor.
Four traditions, not one. “On the leather” means the letters physically survive on the scroll, as against letters an editor has supplied to fill a hole in it — a restoration is a scholar’s reading, not a reading of the manuscript. Words in [square brackets] are supplied; the notes count them apart from what survives.
The map of this verse — what each word keeps company with
This is a map of two things, both counted rather than judged. Company kept: which words stand within three words of each of these, anywhere in the Hebrew Bible — the thicker the line, the more often the pair meet compared with chance. Built from: the words a word is made out of, taken from its own Strong’s entry. It is not a map of meaning: nothing here claims two words mean the same thing. Click any circle to see the numbers behind it.
Lexicons — every word in Deuteronomy 14:3
One dossier per word, with every reference work grouped by kind — Hebrew lexicons, morphology, Bible dictionaries, topical chains and the English of the translators themselves. The verse sits at the head of each block with the word under study lit, so you never lose your place. The panel above gives the short answer; this is the long one, and it is the part of the page worth indexing.
Every entry below is the lexicographer's own text. On the Hebrew: Brown-Driver-Briggs entire and its gloss set, Strong's Hebrew Dictionary, and Tyndale House's Translators Brief lexicon. Where a cell says a work has no entry, that work genuinely has none for this word.
לֹא (lo') is a Hebrew word meaning 'not' or 'no.' It serves as a simple negation and can imply absence or prohibition. The word can also be used in various contexts, often combined with other particles for emphasis or clarification. Its Aramaic equivalent is לָא (la), which also means 'not.'
לֹא or לוֹא adv. not
base
H3808 לֹא or לוֹא not
3808 lo' lo
or lowi {lo}; or loh (Deut. 3:11) {lo}; a primitive particle;
not (the simple or abs. negation); by implication, no; often
used with other particles (as follows):--X before, + or else,
ere, + except, ig(-norant), much, less, nay, neither, never,
no((-ne), -r, (-thing)), (X as though...,(can-), for) not (out
of), of nought, otherwise, out of, + surely, + as truly as, +
of a truth, + verily, for want, + whether, without.
לֹא (lo) — not.
1) not, no
1a) not (with verb-absolute prohibition)
1b) not (with modifier-negation)
1c) nothing (subst)
1d) without (with particle)
1e) before (of time)
Aramaic equivalent: la (לָא "not" H3809)
Part — ParticleHTn
אָכַל (akal) means 'to eat' and encompasses a wide range of meanings, including literal consumption by humans and animals, as well as figurative uses like devouring by fire or destruction. It can describe actions such as feeding or causing to eat, and it also appears in contexts of oppression and destruction. The verb has various forms, indicating different subjects and nuances.
אָכַל 806 vb. eat
Qal
eat, human subject
of beasts, birds, etc., eat, devour
fig. of fire, devour, consume
of sword, devour, slay
in genl., devour, consume, destroy
fig. of oppression, devour the poor
Niph.
be eaten by man
be devoured by fire, consumed
be wasted, destroyed, of flesh
Pu. be consumed
Hiph.
cause to eat, feed with
cause to devoure, obj. sword
base
H398 אָכַל eat .. eat, human subject
. of beasts, birds, etc., eat, devour
. fig. of fire, devour, consume
. of sword, devour, slay
. in genl., devour, consume, destroy
. fig. of oppression, devour the poor
. . be eaten by man
. be devoured by fire, consumed
. be wasted, destroyed, of flesh
. be consumed
. . cause to eat, feed with
. cause to devoure, obj. sword
398 'akal aw-kal'
a primitive root; to eat (literally or figuratively):--X at
all, burn up, consume, devour(-er, up), dine, eat(-er, up),
feed (with), food, X freely, X in...wise(-deed, plenty), (lay)
meat, X quite.
אָכַל (a.khal) — to eat.
1) to eat, devour, burn up, feed
1a) (Qal)
1a1) to eat (human subject)
1a2) to eat, devour (of beasts and birds)
1a3) to devour, consume (of fire)
1a4) to devour, slay (of sword)
1a5) to devour, consume, destroy (inanimate subjects - ie, pestilence, drought)
1a6) to devour (of oppression)
1b) (Niphal)
1b1) to be eaten (by men)
1b2) to be devoured, consumed (of fire)
1b3) to be wasted, destroyed (of flesh)
1c) (Pual)
1c1) to cause to eat, feed with
1c2) to cause to devour
1d) (Hiphil)
1d1) to feed
1d2) to cause to eat
1e) (Piel)
1e1) consume
Aramaic equivalent: a.khal (אֲכַל "to devour" H0399)
V-Qal-Imperf-2ms — Verb · Qal · imperfect second person masculine singularHVqi2ms
כֹּל (kol) means 'all' or 'the whole.' It can refer to totality, including every person or thing, and is often used with a following genitive to specify what is included. The term can also denote a broader sense of everything in existence or all circumstances of life. The lexicons do not show significant disagreement on its meanings.
כֹּל once כּוֹל n.m. the whole, all
with foll. gen. (as usually) the whole of, to be rendered, however, often in our idiom, to avoid stiffness, any or every
Absolutely:
without the art., all things, all
with the art. הַכֹּל
where the sense is limited by the context to things (or persons) just mentioned
in a wider sense, all, whether of all mankind or of all living things, the universe, or of all the circumstances of life (chiefly late)
base
H3605 כֹּל once כּוֹל the whole, all . with foll. gen. (as usually) the whole of, to be rendered, however, often in our idiom, to avoid stiffness, any or every
. Absolutely: . without the art., all things, all
. with the art. הַכֹּל . where the sense is limited by the context to things (or persons) just mentioned
. in a wider sense, all, whether of all mankind or of all living things, the universe, or of all the circumstances of life (chiefly late)
3605 kol kole
or (Jer. 33:8) kowl {kole}; from 3634; properly, the whole;
hence, all, any or every (in the singular only, but often in a
plural sense):--(in) all (manner, (ye)), altogether, any
(manner), enough, every (one, place, thing), howsoever, as
many as, (no-)thing, ought, whatsoever, (the) whole,
whoso(-ever).
see HEBREW for 03634
כֹּל (kol) — all.
1) all, the whole
1a) all, the whole of
1b) any, each, every, anything
1c) totality, everything
Aramaic equivalent: kol (כֹּל "all" H3606)
N-ms — Noun common · masculine singular constructHNcmsc
תּוֹעֵבַה (tow`ebah) means 'abomination' and refers to something morally disgusting. It can denote idolatry, unclean food, or ethical wickedness. The word is built from a feminine active participle of another root, and its usage encompasses both ritual and ethical contexts.
תּוֹעֵבַה 117 n.f. abomination
base
H8441 תּוֹעֵבַה abomination
8441 tow`ebah to-ay-baw'
or tonebah {to-ay-baw'}; feminine active participle of 8581;
properly, something disgusting (morally), i.e. (as noun) an
abhorrence; especially idolatry or (concretely) an idol:--
abominable (custom, thing), abomination.
see HEBREW for 08581
תּוֹעֵבַה (to.e.vah) — abomination.
1) a disgusting thing, abomination, abominable
1a) in ritual sense (of unclean food, idols, mixed marriages)
1b) in ethical sense (of wickedness etc)
N-fs — Noun common · feminine singular absoluteHNcfsa
