According to Taberî, in this verse Allah commands people to eat the foods He has made lawful to them (the pure sustenance made lawful through His Messenger's tongue, excluding things like bahîra, sâiba, wasîla that they themselves made unlawful) and to refrain from following the Devil's footsteps/traces. The Devil has openly demonstrated his enmity by refusing to prostrate before Adam and by deceiving him into pride and expelling him from Paradise; therefore people should not obey him, and should base themselves on what Allah has made unlawful (carrion, blood, pork, that which was slaughtered in the name of other than Allah) rather than what he has made unlawful. The commentator also notes that the linguistic meaning of the word 'hutuvât' (footsteps) is 'the distance between the two feet of one walking', but states that this expression is used to prohibit following all of the Devil's traces and paths.

وأما الخطوات فإنه جمع خطوة، والخطوة: بعد ما بين قدمي الماشي وأحل الله الغنيمة لهم

Zemahşerî explains this expression as: a person following the desires of his own soul in matters of religion and worldly affairs becomes a cause of deviation, just as the people of the Age of Ignorance determined what is lawful and unlawful on their own. He notes that following the desires of the soul can lead a person into misguidance, and that the Devil's enmity is clearly revealed through his expelling Adam and Eve from Paradise.

في التحليل والتحريم من عند أنفسكم فعل كما أهل الجاهلية هوى النفس في قضائك وغيره ، مما تتصرف فيه من أسباب الدين والدنيا { فيضلك } الهوى فيكون سببا لضلالك قد بابنت عداوته لكم : إذ أخرج أباكم من الجنة ونزع عنه لباس النور

According to this commentator, the emphasis on the enmity in the expression 'clear enemy' is because he is the strongest obstacle preventing obedience; however, if he were called 'beloved', this could lead a person to trust in love and become negligent in worship. The root of the enmity between Satan and humans is attributed to Iblis responding with jealousy to Allah's honoring of Adam; this enmity is characterized by Satan as baseness and by Allah as a favour and complementary grace.

لأن العداوة أبلغ الموانع من الاتباع ، وعند الأمر بعبادة الرحمن لم يقل إنه لكم حبيب لأن المحبة لا توجب متابعة المحبوب بل ربما يورث ذلك الاتكال على المحبة

According to Kurtubî, this verse is a warning that Allah has informed us that the Devil is an enemy and that His report is true and correct. It is emphasized that the intelligent person must beware of this enemy who, from the time of Adam, has openly declared his enmity and has spent his life and soul to corrupt the affairs of mankind. In this context, the commentator also mentions similar verses about the Devil's enmity in various places in the Qur'an.

أخبر تعالى بأن الشيطان عدو وخبره حق وصدق فالواجب على العاقل أن يأخذ حذره من هذا العدو الذي قد أبان عداوته من زمن آدم وبذل نفسه وعمره في إفساد أحوال بني آدم وقد أمر الله تعالى بالحذر منه

Ibn Kesîr explains the expression 'the Devil's footsteps/impulses' as a broad concept encompassing every behavior that constitutes disobedience to Allah. In this context, he particularly exemplifies through various accounts narrated from the Companions and the Successors that oaths made in anger, vows containing disobedience (such as vowing to sacrifice one's child), and eating forbidden food also fall within this scope. As a conclusion, he conveys the view that such oaths must be broken and the expiation for oaths must be paid.

وقال الشعبي نذر رجل أن ينحر ابنه فأفتاه مسروق بذبح كبش وقال هذا من خطوات الشيطان

According to Beydâvî, this verse was revealed concerning a people who had made certain foods and garments unlawful to themselves; the address 'hasana' commands the eating of lawful and pure sustenance on earth, and refraining from following the 'footsteps of the Devil' means not imitating the Devil in making the lawful unlawful and the unlawful lawful by following lust or the soul. The fact that the Devil is a 'clear enemy' means that his enmity is manifest to those possessing insight; moreover, even though he appears to show friendship to those he has led astray, he is in reality an enemy, which is why he is called 'walî' (ally/guardian) elsewhere in the Qur'an.

نزلت في قوم حرموا على أنفسهم رفيع الأطعمة والملابس، وحلالا مفعول كلوا، أو صفة مصدر محذوف، أو حال مما في الأرض