Deuteronomy 14:18

Summary

This verse continues the list of birds and flying creatures designated as unclean, naming the chasidah ("stork", H2624) and 'anafah ("heron", H0601) — the latter specified "according to its kind" — followed by the dukhifat ("hoopoe", H1744) and the 'atalef ("bat", H5847).

Key words

• chasidah ("stork", H2624) — feminine singular noun with definite article, first item in the list.
• 'anafah ("heron", H0601) — feminine singular noun with definite article, modified by the following construct phrase.
• min ("kind", H4327) — masculine singular construct noun with 3rd person feminine singular suffix (-ah, H9024), forming le-minah ("according to its kind"), a phrase used elsewhere in the chapter to mark taxonomic subdivisions among similar birds.
• dukhifat ("hoopoe", H1744) — feminine singular noun with definite article.
• 'atalef ("bat", H5847) — masculine singular noun with definite article; grammatically masculine despite being grouped among feminine bird-nouns in the list.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is a simple asyndetic-style list joined by repeated ve ("and", H9002) before each definite noun: ve-ha-chasidah, ve-ha-'anafah, ve-ha-dukhifat, ve-ha-'atalef. Each creature receives its own definite article, giving the list a formulaic, catalog-like rhythm typical of these dietary enumerations in Deuteronomy 14.

The phrase le-minah ("to its kind", H4327 + H9024) attaches specifically to 'anafah ("heron"), not to the whole list. This construct + suffix construction indicates that "heron" functions here as a category covering multiple related species, similar to how other terms in the surrounding verses (e.g., raven, hawk) are qualified by le-mino/le-minah elsewhere in the chapter. The stork, hoopoe, and bat, by contrast, appear without this qualifier, suggesting they are treated as single, non-subdivided categories in the Hebrew text.

The 'atalef ("bat", H5847) is grammatically masculine, breaking the pattern of feminine nouns (chasidah, 'anafah, dukhifat) that precede it — a purely grammatical note without semantic significance in the list itself.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text names four specific creatures (stork, heron, hoopoe, bat), each with a definite article, and singles out only "heron" for the "according to its kind" qualifier. The Vulgate (VULCLEM) translates the terms as onocrotalum, charadrium, upupam, and vespertilionem, and shifts the "in genere suo" ("in its kind") phrase to a general note ("singula in genere suo") rather than attaching it only to one bird as the Hebrew does. The LXXSWETE text supplied here reads as a general summary statement about unclean flying creeping things ("all the reptiles of the birds are unclean to you, you shall not eat of them") rather than a parallel list of named birds, showing a structural divergence from the Hebrew's itemized catalog at this specific verse position.