Deuteronomy 14:4

Summary

The verse opens a list specifying which land animals may be eaten, beginning with the formula "this is the animal" followed by the ox and the categories of sheep and goats. It functions as a heading introducing the enumeration that continues in the following verses.

Key words

• zot ("this", H2063) — feminine demonstrative pointing forward to ha-behemah, introducing the category being defined.
• ha-behemah ("the animal", H0929) — singular noun with definite article, used here in a collective/generic sense to head the list of permitted animals.
• 'asher ("which", H0834A) — relative particle linking the demonstrative clause to the verb tokhelu.
• tokhelu ("you will eat", H0398) — qal imperfect, second person masculine plural, expressing an ongoing or future permitted action addressed to the community.
• seh ("animal of", H7716) — construct form appearing twice, each time governing a following plural noun (khesavim, "sheep", H3775; 'izim, "goats", H5795) to form the phrases "an animal of the sheep" and "an animal of the goats".

What the text says

The verse begins with zot ha-behemah 'asher tokhelu — "this [is] the animal which you will eat" — a formulaic heading using the singular noun behemah in a generic sense to introduce a category rather than one specific creature. The relative clause with 'asher attaches the qal imperfect verb tokhelu, marking the second-person plural addressees as the ones who eat, and the imperfect aspect allows the statement to function as a general or permissive rule rather than a single event.

After the heading, the text lists shor ("an ox", H7794) alone, followed by two construct phrases: seh khesavim ("an animal of the sheep-flock") and seh 'izim ("an animal of the goats"), joined by the conjunction ve- ("and", H9002). The construct chain with seh ("animal of") indicates that this word functions as a general term for a single animal drawn from a specified flock-type, rather than naming a specific age or sex of animal. The grammar thus presents one broad category (shor) plus two construct-based subcategories (seh of sheep, seh of goats), setting up the list that the following verses expand.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders shor as moschon ("calf/young bull") rather than a generic ox, and translates each seh phrase with specific young-animal terms — amnon ("lamb") for seh khesavim and chimaron ("young goat") for seh 'izim — narrowing the Hebrew's more general construct terms. The Vulgate uses bovem ("ox"), ovem ("sheep"), and capram ("goat"), which broadens the construct phrases into single generic nouns without preserving the "animal of X" construction seen in the Hebrew.