Euen as the Roe bucke and the Hart is eaten, so thou shalt eate them: the vncleane and the cleane shall eate of them alike. Deuteronomy 12:22 (KJV)
The quotation above is not found in Deuteronomy 12:22 in the King James Version, nor does that verse contain any reference to roebuck, hart, or the equality of clean and unclean eaters. In the KJV Deuteronomy 12:22 reads: “If the place where the LORD thy God shall choose to put his name be far, then thou mayest eat of all that the LORD thy God hath given thee, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God.” The chapter as a whole focuses on the centralization of worship and the proper offering of sacrifices, not on dietary rules for hunted game.
Mosaic dietary law does classify animals as “clean” and “unclean,” a system presented in passages such as Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14. The roebuck and the hart are species of deer, and according to Levitical law deer are among the clean quadrupeds and therefore permissible to eat when properly slaughtered. However, Deuteronomy 12:22 does not state that both clean and unclean people may eat these animals, nor does it suggest that the usual distinction between clean and unclean animals is suspended for game. The prohibition against eating unclean animals remains in force throughout the Mosaic code, and no verse in Deuteronomy removes that restriction for roebuck or hart.
Any symbolic reading that the passage promotes universal equality among Israel’s members is an interpretation, not an explicit biblical claim. The text does not use the roebuck or hart to illustrate social equality. In summary, while the quoted wording appears in some secondary sources, the actual Deuteronomy 12:22 verse concerns the blessings of God for those who eat the provisions He provides, especially when the central place of worship is distant, and it does not address the consumption of specific game or alter the clean‑unclean dietary distinctions established elsewhere in the law.
