‘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,
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,
- BSB 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,
- 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 28:7That path no bird of prey knows, neither has the falcon’s eye seen it.
- Rom 1:28–32Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
- Jer 48:40For Yahweh says: “Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread out his wings against Moab.
- Deut 14:12–20But these are they of which you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey,
- Rom 3:13–17“Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues they have used deceit.” “The poison of vipers is under their lips”;
- Job 39:27–30Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up, and makes his nest on high?
- Matt 24:28For wherever the carcass is, there is where the vultures gather together.
- Titus 3:3For we were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.
- Hos 8:1“Put the trumpet to your lips! Something like an eagle is over Yahweh’s house, because they have broken my covenant, and rebelled against my law.
- Lam 4:19Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky: They chased us on the mountains, they laid wait for us in the wilderness.
- Job 38:41Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?
- Jer 4:13Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as the whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! For we are ruined.
- Hab 1:8Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour.
- Jer 4:22“For my people are foolish, they don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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.