Leviticus 11:41

Summary

Leviticus 11:41 declares a general legal category: every creature classified as sheretz ("swarming thing", H8318) that moves upon the earth is designated sheqetz ("detestable thing", H8263), and the text states it "will not be eaten" (yе'akhel, H0398).

Key words

• She.retz ("swarming thing", H8318) — masculine singular noun, the general noun for the class of creature being regulated; preceded by khol ("every", H3605) in construct, forming "every swarming thing."
• sho.Retz ("swarms", H8317) — qal participle, masculine singular, from the same root as sheretz; functions as a relative clause modifying the noun, literally "the swarming-thing that is swarming."
• 'A.retz ("earth/ground", H0776H) — feminine singular noun, object of the preposition 'al ("on/upon", H5921A), specifying the domain of movement (ground-level, as opposed to water or air).
• She.ketz ("detestable thing", H8263) — masculine singular noun functioning as predicate nominative; paired with the pronoun hu' ("it", H1931) to form a nominal (verbless) clause of classification.
• ye.'a.Khel ("it will be eaten", H0398) — niphal (passive) imperfect, third person masculine singular; the passive voice removes the agent, stating the prohibition as a general rule rather than addressing a specific "you."

What the text says

The verse opens with a construct chain reinforced by a relative participial clause: khol ha-sheretz ha-shoretz 'al ha-'aretz, literally "every the-swarming-thing, the one swarming upon the earth." The repetition of the root sh-r-tz — once as a noun (sheretz) and once as a participle (shoretz) — is a common Hebrew construction that intensifies or specifies the category, essentially saying "every swarmer that swarms," anchoring the class to observable behavior (movement along the ground) rather than to a fixed list of species.

The second half is a nominal clause: sheqetz hu' ("a detestable thing, it [is]"). Hebrew nominal clauses have no verb "to be" in the present; the predicate sheqetz and the pronoun hu' are simply juxtaposed, producing a declarative classification rather than a narrated action. This is followed by the negated niphal imperfect lo' ye'akhel, "it will not be eaten." The niphal (passive) form shifts the focus from any human subject to the creature itself as the entity affected, making the statement read as a standing rule about the object's status rather than a command directed at a particular audience.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders sheqetz ("detestable thing", H8263) as βδέλυγμα ("abomination") and adds ὑμῖν ("to you"), making explicit an addressee not present as a separate word in the Hebrew clause, where the classification is stated impersonally via hu' ("it", H1931). The Vulgate similarly universalizes with "abominabile erit" ("it will be abominable") without an explicit dative pronoun, closer to the Hebrew's impersonal construction than the LXX's added "to you."