Even as the roebuck and the hart is eaten, so thou shalt eat them: the unclean and the clean shall eat of them alike.
Parallel translations
- WEB Even as the gazelle and as the deer is eaten, so you shall eat of it. The unclean and the clean may eat of it alike.
- BSB Indeed, you may eat it as you would eat a gazelle or deer; both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat it.
- NKJV Just as the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you may eat them; the unclean and the clean alike may eat them.
- NASB Just as a gazelle or a deer is eaten, so you may eat it; the unclean and the clean alike may eat it.
- NLT Anyone, whether ceremonially clean or unclean, may eat that meat, just as you do now with gazelle and deer.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Such meat may be eaten as freely as a gazelle or deer, by clean and unclean alike. Common food is not bound by sanctuary restrictions.
Overview
Moses compares this everyday slaughter to eating wild game, which carried no ceremonial requirement. Both ceremonially clean and unclean persons could partake, since this was ordinary nourishment, not sacrifice. The distinction preserves the holiness of the altar while granting freedom at the family table, illustrating God's wise ordering of sacred and common.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 1
- Deut 12:15–16Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck, and as of the hart.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 12:22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.