Deuteronomy 14:8

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

The pig, because it has a split hoof but doesn't chew the cud, is unclean to you: of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Download a study sheet

One document with this verse’s original text, its word-by-word gloss line, the meaning frame, cross-references with their text, attributed commentary, and full source and license credits — printable, and it pastes into notes with its structure intact.

This verse Autodidact and up

Study sheet (.html) Plain text (.txt)

A passage Seminary Student

Up to 50 verses in one chapter. A passage sheet keeps up to 6 commentary sources and 12 cross-references per verse, in the order this page ranks them, and says so on the sheet whenever that leaves anything out. Ask for a single verse and you get the Autodidact verse sheet above.

Everything on this page stays free to read, with no account — the sheet is a download of what is already on screen, not access to it.

Want to remove ads? Support Godless Engineer

Word by word

More ways to search: Search by grammar → Find every occurrence → Compare this word →

Practice this passage: Drill this verse → Learn its vocabulary →

הַ֠חֲזִיר

chăzîyr

H2386

“the · swine”

Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 7× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Leviticus 11:7

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from an unused root probably meaning to enclose

TWOT: 637a

hog, swine, boar - swine (as forbidden food) - wild boar

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

17: words
13: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is הַ֠חֲזִיר swine H2386 — appearing just 7 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

הַ֠חֲזִיר swine H2386 occurs in 7 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
5 nouns
1 adjective
2 pronouns
1 preposition
1 conjunction
4 particles

Verb forms

מַפְרִ֨יס Hiphil · Participle Active
תֹאכֵ֔לוּ Qal · Imperfect
תִגָּֽעוּ Qal · Imperfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

וְלֹ֣א not H3808 ×3
הוּא֙ he H1931 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 31 words from the Hebrew and 41 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 17 Hebrew tokens and 31 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Deuteronomy 14:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Leviticus 11:26–27 "'Every animal which parts the hoof, and is not cloven-footed, nor chews the cud, is unclean to you. Everyone who touches them shall be unclean.
Isaiah 65:4 who sit among the graves, and lodge in the secret places; who eat pig's flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
Isaiah 66:3 He who kills an ox is as he who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, as he who breaks a dog's neck; he who offers an offering, [as he who offers] pig's blood; he who burns frankincense, as he who blesses an idol. Yes, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations:
Isaiah 66:17 Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves [to go] to the gardens, behind one in the midst, eating pig's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, they shall come to an end together, says Yahweh.
Luke 15:15–16 He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs.
2 Peter 2:22 But it has happened to them according to the true proverb, "The dog turns to his own vomit again," and "the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire."

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Deuteronomy 14:8 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וְאֶת הַ֠חֲזִיר כִּֽי מַפְרִ֨יס פַּרְסָ֥ה הוּא֙ וְלֹ֣א גֵרָ֔ה טָמֵ֥א ה֖וּא לָכֶ֑ם מִבְּשָׂרָם֙ לֹ֣א תֹאכֵ֔לוּ וּבְנִבְלָתָ֖ם לֹ֥א תִגָּֽעוּ

The pig, because it has a split hoof but doesn't chew the cud, is unclean to you: of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Deuteronomy 14:8 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ὁ ὗς ὅτι διχηλέω ὁπλή οὗτος καί ὀνυχίζω ὄνυξ ὁπλή καί οὗτος μηρυκισμός οὐ μαρυκάομαι ἀκάθαρτος οὗτος σύ ἀπό ὁ κρέας αὐτός οὐ ἐσθίω καί ὁ θνησιμαῖος αὐτός οὐ ἅπτομαι

And as for the swine, because he divides the hoof, and makes claws of the hoof, yet he chews not the cud, he is unclean to you; you⌃ shall not eat of their flesh, you⌃ shall not touch their dead bodies.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וְיָת חֲזִירָא אֲרֵי מַסְדִיק פַּרְסָתָא הוּא וְלָא פָשַׁר מְסָאָב הוּא לְכוֹן מִבִּסְרְהוֹן לָא תֵיכְלוּן וּבִנְבֵלְתְּהוֹן לָא תִקְרְבוּן

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וְיַת חֲזִירָא אֲרוּם סְדִיק פַּרְסָתָא הוּא וְלֵית כַּנְפֵיק בֵּיהּ דְּסָדִיק וְלָא פָּשַׁר מְסָאַב הוּא לְכוֹן מִבִּסְרֵיהוֹן לָא תֵיכְלוּן וּבִנְבֵילְתְּהוֹן לָא תְקַרְבוּן

The swine, because, though he hath the hoof divided, and there is none produced that like him divideth (the hoof), and yet cheweth not the cud, is unclean to you; of their flesh you shall not eat, nor touch their dead bodies.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Deuteronomy 14:8 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

14:8 The instruction not to touch their carcasses was primarily to maintain ritual purity.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

8. swine] ḥǎzîr, Ar. khanzir; from the animal’s indiscriminate feeding the flesh is liable to become the host of many parasites and therefore without care dangerous especially in warm climates. Used in heathen sacrifices, Isa_65:4 f., 17. Nomad Arabs eat the wild boar: ‘only the fellaḥîn say that they do not eat the wild-boar; their neighbours, however, assert the contrary of them’ (Musil, Ethn. Ber. 151). On the sacredness of the pig among other peoples and the use of it in making charms and amulets see W. R. Smith, Rel. Sem. 272, 429. LXX has here a fuller text as in Lev_11:7. Note that no mention is made of the wilder beasts of prey: lion, panther, bear, wolf, hyaena or jackal. On the use of the hyaena, etc. by the present fellaḥîn see PEFQ, 1905, 120. Wolf-flesh is regarded as medicinal in Arabia (Doughty, i. 337).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

The pig is unclean to you

Something Yahweh says is unfit for his people to eat is spoken of as if it were physically unclean. (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

pig

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

ובנבלתם לא תגעו YE SHALL NOT TOUCH THEIR CARRION — Our Rabbis explained that this refers only to the festive seasons when every male Israelite was obliged to appear in the Sanctuary and should therefore be in a state of cleanness. One might think that they (the Israelites, i.e. non-priests) are prohibited from touching a carcass during the whole year! It, however, states, (Leviticus 21:1) in reference to the uncleanness of a corpse: “Say unto the priests … [there shall none be defiled by the dead] etc.”. Now you may draw a conclusion a fortiori: How is it in the case of uncleanness caused by a corpse which is a stringent kind of uncleanness? Priests only are prohibited regarding it but ordinary Israelites are not prohibited! Surely in the case of uncleanness caused by a carcass which is less stringent this is all the more so! (Sifra, Shemini, Chapter 4 8-9; cf. Rashi on Leviticus 11:8 and Note thereon).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Deuteronomy, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 17 words (13 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is chăzîyr (“swine”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “swine” (chăzîyr) shape what this verse is saying?
Leviticus 11:7 shares the word «swine» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“not” occurs 3× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
The verb «מַפְרִ֨יס» is Hiphil Participle Active. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Tyndale Open Study Notes and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 17 Hebrew ↔ 31 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 16 words in this verse.
“not” occurs 3× in this single verse.
13 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 17 words in this verse.