48443 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
They shall be even an abomination to you,.... This is repeated again and again, to deter from the eating of such fishes, lest there should be any desire after them: ye shall not eat of their flesh, here mention is made of the flesh of fishes, as is by the apostle, 1 Corinthians 15:39. Aben Ezra observes, that their wise men say, this is according...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Whatsoever hath no fins nor scales in the waters,.... Which is repeated that they might take particular notice of this law, and be careful to observe it, this being the only sign given: that [shall be] an abomination unto you; the Targum of Jonathan says, that not only the flesh of such fish, but the broth, and pickles made of them, were to be an...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And these [are they which] ye shall have in abomination among the fowls,.... No description or sign is given of fowls, as of beasts and fishes, only the names of those not to be eaten; which, according to Maimonides, are twenty four; so that all the rest but these are clean fowls, and might be eaten; wherefore the same writer observes (x), that,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the vulture, and the kite after his kind. Perhaps it might be better if the version was inverted, and the words be read, "and the kite, and the vulture, after his kind"; and the last word is by us rendered the vulture in Job 28:7 and very rightly, since the kite is not remarkable for its sight, any other than all rapacious creatures are,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Every raven after his kind. The red raven, night raven, the water raven, river raven, wood raven, c. this also includes crows, rooks, pies, jays, and jackdaws, c. The raven was with the Heathens sacred to Apollo (o), is a voracious creature, and so reckoned among unclean ones, and unfit for food nor does the care that God takes of these creatures,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the owl,.... The great and little owls being after mentioned, it seems best, by the word here used, to understand the "ostrich" with the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, the Oriental versions, and the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan: the account which Pliny (p) gives of the African and Ethiopic ostriches is this; that they are the largest of birds,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl. Ainsworth translates the words just the reverse, and takes the first word to signify the great owl, and the last the little one; the great owl may intend the great horn owl, called sometimes the eagle owl, which is thus described; it is of the size of a goose, and has large wings, capable...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the swan,.... This is a bird well known to us, but it is a question whether it is intended by the word here used; for though it is so rendered in the Vulgate Latin, it is differently rendered by many others: the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it "otia", which seems to be the same with the "otus" of Aristotle (n), who says it is like an...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the stork,..... A bird of passage, Jeremiah 8:7 it has its name from kindness, which it exercises both to its dam, and to its young. Various writers (b) speak of the kindness of these birds to their dams, which when they are old they take care of and feed them, to which the apostle is thought to allude, 1 Timothy 5:4 and its tenderness to its...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
All fowls that creep,.... Or rather "every creeping thing that flies"; for what are designed are not properly fowls, but, as the Jewish writers interpret them, flies, fleas, bees, wasps, hornets, locusts, c. so the Targum of Jonathan, Jarchi, Ben Gersom, and Maimonides (y): going upon [all] four that is, upon their four feet, when they walk or...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Yet these may ye eat,.... Which are after described and named: of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon [all] four; even though it is a creeping thing that flies and goes upon four feet, provided they be such, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth; there is a double reading of this clause; the textual reading is,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
[Even] these of them ye may eat, c] The four following ones, which seem to be no other than four sorts of locusts: the locust after his kind this is the common locust, called by the name of Arbeh, from the great multiplication and vast multitudes of them; the phrase, "after his kind", and which also is used in all the following instances,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But all [other] flying creeping things,.... Excepting the four sorts before mentioned, wherefore we rightly supply the word "other": which have four feet; or more; the Vulgate Latin version adds, "only", but wrongly; for those that have more are unclean, and forbidden to be eaten, excepting those in the preceding verse; and most creeping things...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And for these ye shalt be unclean,.... That is, for eating them; or should they eat them they would be unclean: whosoever toucheth the carcass of them shall be unclean until the even; not only he was unclean that ate them, but he that even touched their dead bodies was reckoned unclean; might not go into the tabernacle, nor have conversation with...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And whosoever beareth [ought] of the carcass of them,.... That carries them from one place to another, out of the camp, city, village, or house or field where they may lie; and though this is done with a good design, as being offensive or infectious, yet such an one shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even; from whence both Jarchi and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
[The carcasses] of every beast which divideth the hoof, and is not cloven footed,.... As the camel: nor cheweth the cud; though it may divide the hoof, as the swine; and on the other hand, such as may chew the cud, and yet not dividing the hoof, as the coney and hare; for the Scripture here, as Aben Ezra observes again, uses a short and concise...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Whatsoever goeth upon his paws,.... Or "the palms" (d) of his hands; meaning such creatures, whose feet are not divided into two parts, but into many, like the fingers of an hand, as apes, lions, bears, wolves, foxes, dogs, cats, c. among all manner of beasts that go on [all] four this is added, to distinguish them from fowl, such as are clean;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he that beareth the carcass of them,.... Carries it upon any account, from place to place: shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even; as he that bore the carcasses of any of the flying creeping things, Leviticus 11:25 they are unclean to you; even the carcasses of the one and of the other; and to all the Israelites, men, women, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
These also [shall be] unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth,.... As distinguished from those creeping things that fly, these having no wings as they; and which were equally unclean, neither to be eaten nor touched, neither their blood, their skin, nor their flesh, as the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it: and the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the ferret,.... Whatever creature is here meant, it has its name in Hebrew from the cry it makes; and so the ferret has but one note in its voice, which is a shrill, but small, whining cry: it is used to drive rabbits out of their holes: the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render the word by "mygale", the weasel mouse, or "mus areneus"...