Leviticus 11:12

Summary

Leviticus 11:12 states a general rule closing the section on aquatic creatures: whatever lacks fins and scales in the water is sheqetz ("detestable thing", H8263) for the people addressed. It functions as a summary clause covering all water creatures not previously specified as edible.

Key words

• kol ("all", H3605) — introduces an unrestricted relative clause, "all that...", establishing universal scope before the condition is stated.
• 'asher ("that", H0834A) — relative particle linking kol to the negated existential clause that follows.
• 'ein ("not", H0369) construct + lo ("to it", H9033 suffix) — the standard Hebrew existential negation "there is not to it," idiomatically rendered "it does not have."
• senapir ("fin", H5579) and qasqeset ("scale", H7193) — both singular nouns joined by ve- ("and", H9002), used collectively to denote the anatomical features that distinguish permitted from prohibited water creatures.
• sheqetz ("detestable thing", H8263) — a noun placed before the pronoun hu ("it", H1931), forming a nominal (verbless) predicate sentence.

What the text says

The verse opens with kol 'asher ("all that"), a construction that sets up a conditional-relative clause rather than naming a specific animal, making the statement a general classification rule rather than a list item. The negation 'ein-lo ("there is not to it") is the standard Hebrew way of expressing possession or its absence without a verb "to have"; here it denies the presence of senapir ("fin") and qasqeset ("scale") to the creature in question, both nouns appearing in the singular as a collective reference to these bodily features in general, not to a specific count.

The second half of the verse, sheqetz hu lakem ("detestable-thing it [is] to-you"), is a nominal clause with no explicit verb "to be" — Hebrew regularly omits the copula in the present tense, using the pronoun hu ("it", H1931) to link subject and predicate. The prepositional phrase lakem ("to you", H9005+H9036) marks the addressees for whom the classification applies, framing sheqetz not as an inherent metaphysical property but as a relational designation "for you."

Differences between versions

The LXX opens with kai ("and"), coordinating this verse with the preceding one, which has no equivalent in the Hebrew kol or the Vulgate's Cuncta. The LXX renders senapir and qasqeset with plural nouns (pterygia, lepides), where the Hebrew uses singular collective forms. The Vulgate's polluta erunt ("they will be polluted/unclean") shifts the semantic register from the Hebrew sheqetz ("detestable thing") — closer to the LXX's bdelygma ("abomination") — toward a ritual-impurity term rather than a term of disgust/repulsion.