Leviticus 11
Lexham English Bible
Clean and Unclean Animals
11 Then[a] Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them, 2 “Speak to the Israelites,[b] saying, ‘These are the animals that you may eat from all the animals that are on the land: 3 Any among the animals that has a divided hoof and has a split cleft in[c] the hoof, such[d] you may eat. 4 However,[e] these[f] you may not eat from those that chew the cud and from those that have a[g] divided hoof: the camel, because it is a chewer of cud but it does not have a hoof that is divided—it is unclean for you; 5 and the coney, because it is a chewer of cud but it does not have a hoof that is divided—it is unclean for you; 6 and the hare, because it is a chewer of cud but it does not have a hoof that is divided—it is unclean for you; 7 and the pig, because it has a divided hoof and has a split cleft in[h] the hoof but it does not chew cud—it is unclean for you. 8 You must not eat from their meat, and you must not touch their dead body—they are unclean for you.
9 “‘These[i] you may eat from all that are in the water: any in the water that has a fin and scales, whether in the seas or[j] in the streams—such[k] you may eat. 10 But any that does not have a fin and scales, whether in the seas or[l] in the streams, among[m] all the water’s swarmers among all the living creatures that are in the water—they are a detestable thing to you. 11 And they shall be detestable to you; you must not eat from their meat, and you must detest their dead body. 12 Any that does not have a fin and scales in the water—it is a detestable thing to you.
13 “‘And these you must detest from the birds; they must not be eaten—they are detestable: the eagle and the vulture and the short-toed eagle, 14 and the red kite and the black kite according to its kind, 15 every crow according to its kind, 16 and the ostrich[n] and the short-eared owl and the seagull and the hawk according to its kind, 17 and the little owl and the cormorant and the great owl, 18 and the barn owl and the desert owl and the carrion vulture, 19 and the stork, the heron according to its kind and the hoopoe and the bat.
20 “‘Any winged insect[o] that walks on all fours is detestable to you. 21 Only this may you eat from any of the winged insects[p] that walk on all fours—that which has jointed legs above its feet for leaping upon the land. 22 From these[q] you may eat the locust according to its kind and the bald locust according to its kind and the cricket according to its kind and the grasshopper according to its kind. 23 But[r] any other[s] winged insect[t] that has four legs is detestable to you. 24 And by these you shall become unclean—anyone who touches their dead body shall become unclean until the evening, 25 and anyone who carries their dead body must wash his garments, and he shall be unclean until the evening.
26 “‘With regard to any animal that has a divided hoof but does not split the hoof, or[u] does not have a cud for chewing[v]—they are unclean for you; anyone who touches them shall become unclean. 27 And anything that walks upon its paws among any of the animals[w] that walks on all fours—they are unclean for you; anyone who touches their dead body shall become unclean until the evening, 28 and the one who carries their dead body must wash his garments, and he shall be unclean until the evening—they are unclean for you.
29 “‘And these[x] are the unclean for you among the swarmers[y] that swarm on the land: the weasel and the mouse and the thorn-tailed lizard according to its kind, 30 and the gecko and the land crocodile and the lizard and the sand lizard and the chameleon. 31 These are the unclean for you among all the swarmers; anyone who touches them at their death shall become unclean until the evening. 32 And anything on which one of them[z] falls at their death shall become unclean: any object of wood or garment or skin or sackcloth—any object that has performed work—must be placed in water, and it shall be unclean until the evening, and then it shall be clean. 33 And any clay vessel[aa] into which it falls shall become unclean, and you must break it. 34 Any of the food that could be eaten on which water from such a vessel comes shall become unclean, and any liquid that could be drunk in any such vessel shall become unclean. 35 And anything on which one of their dead bodies[ab] falls shall become unclean: an oven or[ac] a stove must be broken[ad]—they are unclean and shall be unclean for you. 36 Surely[ae] a spring or[af] a cistern collecting water shall be clean, but that which touches their dead body shall become unclean. 37 And when one of their dead bodies[ag] falls on any seed for sowing,[ah] it is clean. 38 But[ai] when water is put on the seed and one of their dead bodies[aj] falls on it, it is unclean for you.
39 “‘And when one of the animals[ak] dies that is for you to eat, the one who touches its dead body shall become unclean until the evening. 40 And the one who eats some of[al] its dead body must wash his garments, and he shall be unclean until the evening; and the one who carries its dead body must wash his garments, and he shall be unclean until the evening.
41 “‘And any swarmer that swarms on the land is detestable; it must not be eaten. 42 You must not eat[am] anything that moves upon its belly or[an] that walks on all fours, even any with numerous feet belonging to any swarmer that swarms on the land, because they are detestable. 43 You must not defile yourselves with any swarmer that swarms, and you must not make yourselves unclean by them and so be made unclean by them, 44 because I am Yahweh your God, and you must keep yourselves sanctified, so that[ao] you shall be holy, because I am holy. And you must not make yourselves unclean with any swarmer that moves along on the land, 45 because I am Yahweh, who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be for you as God. Thus[ap] you shall be holy, because I am holy.
46 “‘This is the regulation of the animals[aq] and the birds and all living creatures that move along in the water and concerning[ar] all the creatures that swarm on the land, 47 to distinguish between the unclean and the clean and between the animal that is to be eaten and the animal that must not be eaten.’”
Footnotes
- Leviticus 11:1 Or “And”
- Leviticus 11:2 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Leviticus 11:3 Hebrew “of”
- Leviticus 11:3 Hebrew “her/it”
- Leviticus 11:4 Or “Only”
- Leviticus 11:4 By context; Hebrew “this”
- Leviticus 11:4 Hebrew “the”
- Leviticus 11:7 Hebrew “of”
- Leviticus 11:9 By context; Hebrew “This”
- Leviticus 11:9 Or “and”
- Leviticus 11:9 Hebrew “them”
- Leviticus 11:10 Or “and”
- Leviticus 11:10 Literally “from”
- Leviticus 11:16 Literally “the daughter of the ostrich”
- Leviticus 11:20 Literally “swarmer of the wing”
- Leviticus 11:21 Literally “the swarmer of the wing”
- Leviticus 11:22 Literally “These from them”
- Leviticus 11:23 Or “And”
- Leviticus 11:23 Implied by context
- Leviticus 11:23 Literally “swarmer of wing”
- Leviticus 11:26 Or “and”
- Leviticus 11:26 So HALOT 830 s.v. 4
- Leviticus 11:27 Collective singular = plural by context
- Leviticus 11:29 By context; Hebrew “this”
- Leviticus 11:29 Collective singular = plural
- Leviticus 11:32 Literally “from them”
- Leviticus 11:33 Context indicates a vessel as distinguished from a tool or utensil
- Leviticus 11:35 Literally “from their dead body”
- Leviticus 11:35 Or “and”
- Leviticus 11:35 Or “smashed” (NASB, HCSB, NET, NJPS) or “broken in pieces” (ASV, ESV, NRSV)
- Leviticus 11:36 So HALOT 45
- Leviticus 11:36 Or “and”
- Leviticus 11:37 Literally “from their dead body”
- Leviticus 11:37 Literally “seed plant that is to be sown”
- Leviticus 11:38 Or “And”
- Leviticus 11:38 Literally “from their dead body”
- Leviticus 11:39 Literally “from the animal”
- Leviticus 11:40 Literally “from”
- Leviticus 11:42 Hebrew “eat them”
- Leviticus 11:42 Or “and”
- Leviticus 11:44 Or “and”
- Leviticus 11:45 Or “And”
- Leviticus 11:46 Collective singulars in this verse are plural by context
- Leviticus 11:46 Literally “of”
Leviticus 11
New Living Translation
Ceremonially Clean and Unclean Animals
11 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel.
“Of all the land animals, these are the ones you may use for food. 3 You may eat any animal that has completely split hooves and chews the cud. 4 You may not, however, eat the following animals[a] that have split hooves or that chew the cud, but not both. The camel chews the cud but does not have split hooves, so it is ceremonially unclean for you. 5 The hyrax[b] chews the cud but does not have split hooves, so it is unclean. 6 The hare chews the cud but does not have split hooves, so it is unclean. 7 The pig has evenly split hooves but does not chew the cud, so it is unclean. 8 You may not eat the meat of these animals or even touch their carcasses. They are ceremonially unclean for you.
9 “Of all the marine animals, these are ones you may use for food. You may eat anything from the water if it has both fins and scales, whether taken from salt water or from streams. 10 But you must never eat animals from the sea or from rivers that do not have both fins and scales. They are detestable to you. This applies both to little creatures that live in shallow water and to all creatures that live in deep water. 11 They will always be detestable to you. You must never eat their meat or even touch their dead bodies. 12 Any marine animal that does not have both fins and scales is detestable to you.
13 “These are the birds that are detestable to you. You must never eat them: the griffon vulture, the bearded vulture, the black vulture, 14 the kite, falcons of all kinds, 15 ravens of all kinds, 16 the eagle owl, the short-eared owl, the seagull, hawks of all kinds, 17 the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, 18 the barn owl, the desert owl, the Egyptian vulture, 19 the stork, herons of all kinds, the hoopoe, and the bat.
20 “You must not eat winged insects that walk along the ground; they are detestable to you. 21 You may, however, eat winged insects that walk along the ground and have jointed legs so they can jump. 22 The insects you are permitted to eat include all kinds of locusts, bald locusts, crickets, and grasshoppers. 23 All other winged insects that walk along the ground are detestable to you.
24 “The following creatures will make you ceremonially unclean. If any of you touch their carcasses, you will be defiled until evening. 25 If you pick up their carcasses, you must wash your clothes, and you will remain defiled until evening.
26 “Any animal that has split hooves that are not evenly divided or that does not chew the cud is unclean for you. If you touch the carcass of such an animal, you will be defiled. 27 Of the animals that walk on all fours, those that have paws are unclean. If you touch the carcass of such an animal, you will be defiled until evening. 28 If you pick up its carcass, you must wash your clothes, and you will remain defiled until evening. These animals are unclean for you.
29 “Of the small animals that scurry along the ground, these are unclean for you: the mole rat, the rat, large lizards of all kinds, 30 the gecko, the monitor lizard, the common lizard, the sand lizard, and the chameleon. 31 All these small animals are unclean for you. If any of you touch the dead body of such an animal, you will be defiled until evening. 32 If such an animal dies and falls on something, that object will be unclean. This is true whether the object is made of wood, cloth, leather, or burlap. Whatever its use, you must dip it in water, and it will remain defiled until evening. After that, it will be ceremonially clean and may be used again.
33 “If such an animal falls into a clay pot, everything in the pot will be defiled, and the pot must be smashed. 34 If the water from such a container spills on any food, the food will be defiled. And any beverage in such a container will be defiled. 35 Any object on which the carcass of such an animal falls will be defiled. If it is an oven or hearth, it must be destroyed, for it is defiled, and you must treat it accordingly.
36 “However, if the carcass of such an animal falls into a spring or a cistern, the water will still be clean. But anyone who touches the carcass will be defiled. 37 If the carcass falls on seed grain to be planted in the field, the seed will still be considered clean. 38 But if the seed is wet when the carcass falls on it, the seed will be defiled.
39 “If an animal you are permitted to eat dies and you touch its carcass, you will be defiled until evening. 40 If you eat any of its meat or carry away its carcass, you must wash your clothes, and you will remain defiled until evening.
41 “All small animals that scurry along the ground are detestable, and you must never eat them. 42 This includes all animals that slither along on their bellies, as well as those with four legs and those with many feet. All such animals that scurry along the ground are detestable, and you must never eat them. 43 Do not defile yourselves by touching them. You must not make yourselves ceremonially unclean because of them. 44 For I am the Lord your God. You must consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. So do not defile yourselves with any of these small animals that scurry along the ground. 45 For I, the Lord, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. Therefore, you must be holy because I am holy.
46 “These are the instructions regarding land animals, birds, marine creatures, and animals that scurry along the ground. 47 By these instructions you will know what is unclean and clean, and which animals may be eaten and which may not be eaten.”
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