Leviticus 11:20 (LSB)

Passage

‘All the swarming things that fly and that walk on all fours are detestable to you.

Nearby Context

Leviticus 11:18 and the white owl and the pelican and the carrion vulture,

Leviticus 11:19 and the stork, the heron in its kinds, and the hoopoe, and the bat.

Leviticus 11:20 ‘All the swarming things that fly and that walk on all fours are detestable to you.

Leviticus 11:21 Yet these you may eat among all the swarming things that fly and that walk on all fours: those which have above their feet jointed legs with which to jump on the earth.

Leviticus 11:22 These of them you may eat: the locust in its kinds and the devastating locust in its kinds and the cricket in its kinds and the grasshopper in its kinds.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "swarming", "things", "walk", "fours", and "detestable". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "swarming" and "things", 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 in its..." into verse 21's "Yet these you may eat among all...", so "swarming" and "things" 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 "swarming" and "things" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.