Additionally, you are to detest the following birds, and they must not be eaten because they are detestable: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture,
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘These you shall detest among the birds; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the vulture, and the black vulture,
- KJV And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,
- NKJV ‘And these you shall regard as an abomination among the birds; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the buzzard,
- NASB ‘Moreover, these you shall detest among the birds; they are detestable, not to be eaten: the eagle, the vulture, and the buzzard,
- NLT “These are the birds that are detestable to you. You must never eat them: the griffon vulture, the bearded vulture, the black vulture,
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
Certain birds, beginning with the eagle and vultures, are to be detested and not eaten. Birds of prey and carrion-eaters are excluded.
Overview
Rather than positive criteria, the law lists forbidden birds, many of them predators or scavengers associated with death and blood. Avoiding them reinforced Israel's separation from defilement. The detail that these are 'an abomination' echoes the consistent concern for holiness, pointing toward the inward purity God ultimately works in his people through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Job 28:7No bird of prey knows that path; no falcon’s eye has seen it.
- Rom 1:28–32Furthermore, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, He gave them up to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.
- Jer 48:40For this is what the LORD says: “Behold, an eagle swoops down and spreads his wings against Moab.
- Deut 14:12–20but these you may not eat: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture,
- Rom 3:13–17“Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The venom of vipers is on their lips.”
- Job 39:27–30Does the eagle soar at your command and make his nest on high?
- Matt 24:28Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
- Titus 3:3For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.
- Hos 8:1Put the ram’s horn to your lips! An eagle looms over the house of the LORD, because the people have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law.
- Lam 4:19Those who chased us were swifter than the eagles in the sky; they pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.
- Job 38:41Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?
- Jer 4:13Behold, he advances like the clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!
- Hab 1:8Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves of the night. Their horsemen charge ahead, and their cavalry comes from afar. They fly like a vulture, swooping down to devour.
- Jer 4:22“For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 11:13 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.