| Easton's Bible Dictionary (Hebrews hazir), regarded as the most unclean and the most abhorred of all animals (Leviticus 11:7; Isaiah 65:4; 66:3, 17; Luke 15:15, 16). A herd of swine were drowned in the Sea of Galilee (Luke 8:32, 33). Spoken of figuratively in Matthew 7:6 (see Proverbs 11:22). It is frequently mentioned as a wild animal, and is evidently the wild boar (Arab. khanzir), which is common among the marshes of the Jordan valley (Psalm 80:13). Noah Webster's Dictionary (n.) Any animal of the hog kind, especially one of the domestical species. Swine secrete a large amount of subcutaneous fat, which, when extracted, is known as lard. The male is specifically called boar, the female, sow, and the young, pig. See Hog. Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia SWINE swin (chazir; compare Arabic khinzir; hus, Septuagint and New Testament; compare Greek sus, and Latin sus; adjective hueios, as a substantive, the Septuagint; choiros, Septuagint and New Testament): In both ancient and modern times domestic swine have been little kept in Palestine, but wild swine are well known as inhabitants of the thickets of the Chuleh, the Jordan valley, the Dead Sea, and some of the mountains. The species is Susanna scrofa, the wild pig of Europe, North Africa and Western Asia.
In the Old Testament the swine is mentioned in Leviticus 11:7 and Deuteronomy 14:8 as an unclean animal: "And the swine, because he parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, but cheweth not the cud, he is unclean unto you." In Isaiah 65:4 and 66:3, 17 the eating of swine's flesh and the offering of oblations of swine's blood are referred to as abominations. Septuagint also refers to swine in three passages where these animals are not mentioned in the Hebrew and EV. In 2 Samuel 17:8 where English Versions of the Bible has "as a bear robbed of her whelps in the field," Septuagint adds (translation) "and as a savage boar in the plain." In 1 Kings 21:19 Septuagint 20:19), where English Versions of the Bible has "in the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth," Septuagint has "where the swine and the dogs licked"; similarly in 1 Kings 22:38. In 1 Maccabees 1:47 there is reference to a decree of Antiochus ordering the sacrifice of swine. In 2 Maccabees 6 and 7 there are accounts of the torture and death of Eleazar, an aged scribe, and of a mother and her seven sons for refusing to taste swine's flesh. Swine, the property of Gentiles, are mentioned in the account of the Gadarene demoniac (Matthew 8:30, 31, 32 Mark 5:11, 12, 13, 14, 16 Luke 8:32, 33), and in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:15, 16).
Figurative: We find the following figurative references to swine:
"The boar out of the wood doth ravage it,
And the wild beasts of the field feed on it" (i.e. on the "vine out of Egypt") (Psalm 80:13);
"As a ring of gold in a swine's snout,
So is a fair woman that is without discretion"
(Proverbs 11:22);
"The Carmonians (the King James Version Carmanians, perhaps of Kirman or Carmania, in Southwestern Persia) raging in wrath shall go forth as the wild boars of the wood"
(2 Esdras 15:30);
"The dog turning to his own vomit again, and the sow that had washed to wallowing in the mire"
(2 Peter 2:22; compare Proverbs 26:11).
Alfred Ely Day |  | Multi-Version Concordance Swine (15 Occurrences) Matthew 7:6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you. (KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV) Matthew 8:30 And there was a good way off from them an herd of many swine feeding. (KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV) Matthew 8:31 So the devils besought him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. (KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV) Matthew 8:32 And he said unto them, Go. And when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine: and, behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters. (KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV) Mark 5:11 Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. (KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV) Mark 5:12 And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. (KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV) Mark 5:13 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, (they were about two thousand;) and were choked in the sea. (KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV) Mark 5:14 And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. (KJV WEY WBS YLT) Mark 5:16 And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. (KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV) Luke 8:32 And there was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain: and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. (KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV) Luke 8:33 Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake, and were choked. (KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV) Luke 15:15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. (KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV) Luke 15:16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. (KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV) Leviticus 11:7 And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be cloven-footed, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you. (KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS RSV) Deuteronomy 14:8 And the swine, because it divideth the hoof, yet cheweth not the cud, it is unclean unto you: ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcass. (KJV JPS ASV DBY WBS RSV) |
