And all that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you:
Parallel translations
- WEB All that don’t have fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of all the living creatures that are in the waters, they are an abomination to you,
- BSB But the following among all the teeming life and creatures in the water are detestable to you: everything in the seas or streams that does not have fins and scales.
- NKJV But all in the seas or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water or any living thing which is in the water, they are an abomination to you.
- NASB But whatever is in the seas and in the rivers that does not have fins and scales among all the teeming life of the water, and among all the living creatures that are in the water, they are detestable things to you,
- NLT But you must never eat animals from the sea or from rivers that do not have both fins and scales. They are detestable to you. This applies both to little creatures that live in shallow water and to all creatures that live in deep water.
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
Water creatures lacking fins and scales are an abomination to Israel. Such creatures are strictly excluded from the diet.
Overview
Shellfish and other finless, scaleless water creatures fall outside the clean category and are called 'an abomination,' a strong term marking them as wholly unfit for God's people to eat. The vivid language impressed the seriousness of these boundaries. These distinctions, binding under the old covenant, are declared fulfilled in Christ, who cleanses what God has made (Acts 10:15).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Prov 29:27An unjust man is an abomination to the just: and he that is upright in the way is abomination to the wicked.
- Lev 7:18And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings be eaten at all on the third day, it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be imputed unto him that offereth it: it shall be an abomination, and the soul that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity.
- Ps 139:21–22Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
- Prov 13:20He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
- Deut 14:3Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.
- Rev 21:8But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
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Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 11:10 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
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