Deuteronomy 14:4

4 These are the animals you may eat: ox, {sheep, goats},

Deuteronomy 14:4 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 14:4

These are the beasts which they shall eat
That is, which they might lawfully eat of, which were allowed for their food; for they were not obliged to eat of them if they did not choose it:

the ox, the sheep, and the goat;
which were creatures used in sacrifice, and the only ones, yet nevertheless they might be used for food if chosen.

Deuteronomy 14:4 In-Context

2 For you [are] a people holy to Yahweh your God, and you Yahweh has chosen to be a treasured possession from [among] all [of] the peoples that are on the surface of the earth.

3 You shall not eat any detestable thing.

4 These are the animals you may eat: ox, {sheep, goats},

5 deer, gazelle, roebuck, wild goat, ibex, antelope, and mountain sheep.

6 And any animal having a split hoof and [so] {a dividing of the hoof into two parts} {and that chews the cud} among the animals--that [animal] you may eat.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "small livestock of the sheep and a small livestock of the goats"