Leviticus 11:20 (DBY)

Passage

Every winged crawling thing that goeth upon all four shall be an abomination unto you.

Nearby Context

Leviticus 11:18 and the swan, and the pelican, and the carrion vulture,

Leviticus 11:19 and the stork; the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat.

Leviticus 11:20 Every winged crawling thing that goeth upon all four shall be an abomination unto you.

Leviticus 11:21 Yet these shall ye eat of every winged crawling thing that goeth upon all four: those which have legs above their feet with which to leap upon the earth.

Leviticus 11:22 These shall ye eat of them: the arbeh after its kind, and the solam after its kind, and the hargol after its kind, and the hargab after its kind.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "winged", "crawling", "goeth", "upon", "four", "shall", and "abomination". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "winged" and "crawling", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 19's "and the stork the heron after its..." into verse 21's "Yet these shall ye eat of every...", so "winged" and "crawling" belong inside that flow. In Leviticus context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "winged" and "crawling" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.