Deuteronomy 14:17

Study note

Setting — Moses addresses the Israelites on the plains of Moab, delivering covenant statutes before they cross the Jordan into the Promised Land.

The words — The text lists the qāʾāṯ (desert owl), the rāḥāmâ (Egyptian vulture), and the šālaḵ (cormorant) as creatures marked for exclusion from the diet.

The thread — This list parallels the unclean bird catalog in Leviticus 11:13-19, where the same species appear in a nearly identical sequence.

Why it lands — The reader must apply these boundaries literally, refraining from consuming the listed birds to maintain the prescribed ritual separation.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.