Leviticus 11:20

20 “You must not eat winged insects that walk along the ground; they are detestable to you.

Leviticus 11:20 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 11:20

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 so the Targum of Jonathan, Jarchi, Ben Gersom, and Maimonides ^F25:

going upon [all] four;
that is, upon their four feet, when they walk or creep:

[these shall be] an abomination to you;
not used as food, but detested as such.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F25 Maacolot Asurot, c. 2. l. 5.

Leviticus 11:20 In-Context

18 the barn owl, the desert owl, the Egyptian vulture,

19 the stork, herons of all kinds, the hoopoe, and the bat.

20 “You must not eat winged insects that walk along the ground; they are detestable to you.

21 You may, however, eat winged insects that walk along the ground and have jointed legs so they can jump.

22 The insects you are permitted to eat include all kinds of locusts, bald locusts, crickets, and grasshoppers.