Deuteronomy 14:10

Summary

The verse gives a dietary rule for aquatic creatures: whatever lacks fins and scales may not be eaten, because it is classified as tamé ("unclean", H2931) for those addressed.

Key words

• khol ("all", H3605) — sets up a universal quantifier, "all/every," governed by the relative clause that follows.
• 'asher ("that", H0834A) — relative particle introducing the defining clause "that has no fin and scale."
• 'ein-lo ("there is not to it", H0369 + H9005/H9033) — an existential negation construction meaning "it does not have," literally "there is not to it."
• tokhelu ("you will eat", H0398) — Qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural, expressing a prohibition when combined with the negation lo' ("not", H3808): "you shall not eat."
• tamé' ("unclean", H2931) — masculine singular adjective functioning as the predicate of the clause "it is unclean," describing the classification status of the creature.

What the text says

The verse opens with ve-khol 'asher ("and all that", H9002 + H3605 + H0834A), a construction that marks a general class defined by the relative clause immediately following it. That clause, 'ein-lo senappir ve-qasqeset ("there is not to it fin and scale", H0369/H9005/H9033 + H5579 + H9002 + H7193), uses the existential negative 'ein with the prepositional phrase lo ("to it") to express possession negatively — the idiomatic Hebrew way of saying "it lacks." The two nouns senappir ("fin", H5579) and qasqeset ("scale", H7193) are joined by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002), naming the two physical features whose absence defines the excluded category.

The main clause, lo' tokhelu ("you will not eat", H3808 + H0398), is a Qal imperfect verb in the second person masculine plural, here carrying prohibitive force rather than simple future — a common use of the imperfect with lo' in legal instruction. The final clause, tame' hu lakhem ("unclean it [is] to you", H2931 + H1931 + H9005/H9036), places the adjective tame' first for emphasis, followed by the pronoun hu ("it", H1931) and the prepositional phrase lakhem ("to you", H9005 + H9036), stating the classification is relative to the addressees ("to you") rather than an absolute cosmic property.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the Hebrew singular collective khol ("all") with the plural panta hosa ("all things that"), and expresses tame' hu lakhem as a plural predicate, akatharta hymin estin ("unclean things they are to you"), matching the plural noun panta. The Vulgate omits an explicit equivalent for ve-khol 'asher ("and all that") and lo' tokhelu as a distinct clause, compressing the sentence into "quae absque pinnulis et squamis sunt, ne comedatis, quia immunda sunt" ("which are without fins and scales, do not eat, because they are unclean"), introducing a causal quia ("because") not present as a distinct particle in the Hebrew text.