Deuteronomy 14:6

Summary

Deuteronomy 14:6 defines which animals may be eaten by specifying two anatomical criteria: a hoof that is split, divided into two parts, and the practice of bringing up the cud. The verse closes with a plural imperative-like verb permitting consumption of animals meeting both conditions.

Key words

• maf.Re.set ("[which] divides", H6536) — Hiphil participle, feminine singular construct, describing the animal as the causal agent that produces a divided hoof (par.Sah, H6541).
• sho.Sa.'at ("[which] cleaves", H8156) — Qal participle, feminine singular construct, in construct with she.sa' ("cleft of", H8157), describing the actual physical split itself rather than the action of dividing.
• she.Tei fe.ra.Sot ("two hooves", H8147 + H6541) — dual construct plus plural noun, specifying that the cleft results in exactly two hoof-parts.
• ma.'a.Lat ("[which] brings up", H5927M) — Hiphil participle, feminine singular construct, governing ge.Rah ("cud", H1625), the second required trait.
• to.Khe.lu ("you will eat", H0398) — Qal imperfect, second person masculine plural, expressing permitted future/ongoing action rather than a direct command form.

What the text says

The verse is built as a long construct chain describing the animal (be.he.Mah, H0929) through a series of participles, each in construct state ("X of…"), before the main verb appears. First, maf.Re.set par.Sah describes an animal that "divides a hoof" — the Hiphil participle presents the animal as actively producing this division. Second, sho.Sa.'at she.sa' she.Tei fe.ra.Sot adds a further specification: not just a divided hoof, but a "cleft of two hooves," using a Qal participle to describe the resulting cleft itself, distinct from the causative action of the previous phrase. Third, ma.'a.Lat ge.Rah ("bringing up cud") adds the digestive criterion, again as a Hiphil participle showing ongoing characteristic behavior.

The object marker 'o.Tah ("it," H0853 + H9034) then reintroduces the animal as the direct object of the final verb to.Khe.lu ("you will eat"), a Qal imperfect second-person plural form. The imperfect aspect allows for either habitual, repeated action or permission extending into the future, rather than a single one-time act.

Differences between versions

The LXX uses δύο χηλῶν ("two hooves") and ὀνυχιστῆρας... ὀνυχίζον to render the double participle structure (sho.Sa.'at she.sa'), combining the Hebrew's two-step description of splitting into a single Greek phrase about hoof-parts. The Vulgate condenses the entire hoof-description into "in duas partes findit ungulam" ("splits the hoof into two parts"), merging the Hebrew's two separate construct phrases (maf.Re.set par.Sah and sho.Sa.'at she.sa' she.Tei fe.ra.Sot) into one clause. Modern translations (BSB, RV1909, SBLIBRE) similarly compress the layered Hebrew participial structure into simpler adjectival phrases such as "split hoof divided in two."