Cloven

CLOVEN [ISBE]

CLOVEN - klo'-v'-n: In the Old Testament, represented by a participle from shaca, "to split," and applied to beasts that divide the hoof (Lev 11:3; Dt 14:7). Beasts with hoofs completely divided into two parts, that were also ruminant, were allowed the Israelites as food; see CUD; HOOF. In the New Testament, for diamerizomenai, in Acts 2:3 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) "tongues parting asunder," i.e. "bifurcated flames." Another explanation found in the Revised Version, margin applies the word, not to tongues, but to the multitude, "parting among them," or "distributing themselves among them," settling upon the head of each disciple.

H. E. Jacobs