Leviticus 11:42

Summary

The verse closes the list of forbidden swarming creatures by categorizing them according to their mode of locomotion: those that move on the belly, those that walk on four legs, and those with many legs. All such creatures that swarm on the earth are declared unfit for consumption because they are classified as sheqetz ("a detestable thing", H8263).

Key words

• ho.Lekh ("[one which] walks", H1980I) — qal participle, repeated twice (words 2 and 7), functioning as a substantive "the one that walks/goes," used to classify creatures by their manner of movement rather than naming a specific species.
• gaChon ("belly", H1512) — masculine singular noun following the preposition 'al ("on", H5921A), describing locomotion on the belly, i.e., legless movement.
• marBeh ("[one which] multiplies", H7235A) — hiphil participle in construct form, literally "the one that multiplies [feet]," idiomatically meaning "having many feet"; the causative stem conveys an increase or abundance of legs.
• shoRetz ("swarms", H8317) — qal participle from the same root as sheretz ("swarming thing", H8318), creating a wordplay: "the swarming thing that swarms."
• sheqetz ("[are] a detestable thing", H8263) — masculine singular noun serving as the predicate of the final clause, giving the reason (ki, "for/if", H3588A) for the prohibition.

What the text says

The verse is built on a threefold classification using participial phrases, each introduced by kol ("any", H3605): "any that walks on the belly" (ho.Lekh 'al gaChon), "any that walks on four" (ho.Lekh 'al 'arBa'), and "any that has many feet" (kol marBeh ragLayim). The repetition of kol before each category shows a cumulative structure — the text is enumerating distinct locomotion types rather than listing separate species. The phrase ad kol-marBeh ragLayim uses the preposition 'ad ("to", H5704) to extend the list "up to" or "including" creatures with many legs, marking this as the outer boundary of the category being addressed.

All these are then subsumed under le-khol ha-sheretz ha-shoretz 'al ha-'aretz ("to every swarming thing that swarms on the earth"), where the construct chain le-khol ("to every", H3605) plus the article ha ("the", H9009) ties the locomotion types back to the general term sheretz ("swarming thing", H8318). The prohibition lo' tokhLum ("you must eat them not", H0398 with suffix H9038) is an imperfect verb functioning as a durative command applying to the second-person plural. The reason clause ki sheqetz hem ("for they are a detestable thing", H8263 + H1992) uses the particle ki to introduce the rationale, with sheqetz as a predicate noun rather than a verb.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the Hebrew marBeh ragLayim ("multiplier of feet") with the Greek phrase "πολυπληθεῖ ποσὶν" ("abounds in feet"), preserving the sense of multiplicity of legs. The Vulgate's "multos habet pedes" ("has many feet") and adds "sive per humum trahitur" ("or is dragged along the ground"), an addition not present in the Hebrew's tripartite structure of belly/four legs/many legs. The Hebrew term sheqetz ("detestable thing", H8263) is rendered by the LXX as "βδέλυγμα" ("abomination") and by the Vulgate as "abominabile" ("abominable"), both conveying a similar sense of ritual unfitness.