Dietary rules

11 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: ² Say to the Israelites: These are the creatures that you are allowed to eat from the land animals: ³ You can eat any animal that has divided hoofs, completely split, and that rechews food. ⁴ But of animals that rechew food and have divided hoofs you must not eat the following: the camel—though it rechews food, it does not have divided hoofs, so it is unclean for you; ⁵ the rock badger—though it rechews food, it does not have divided hoofs, so it is unclean for you; ⁶ the hare—though it rechews food, it does not have divided hoofs, so it is unclean for you; ⁷ the pig—though it has completely divided hoofs, it does not rechew food, so it is unclean for you. ⁸ You must not eat the flesh of these animals or touch their dead bodies; they are unclean for you.

⁹ You are allowed to eat the following from all water animals: You may eat anything in the water that has fins and scales, whether in sea or stream. ¹⁰ But anything in the seas or streams that does not have fins and scales—whether it be any of the swarming creatures in the water or any of the other living creatures in the water—is detestable to you ¹¹ and must remain so. You must not eat their flesh, and you must detest their dead bodies. ¹² Anything in the water that does not have fins or scales is detestable to you.

¹³ Of the birds, the following are the ones you must detest—they must not be eaten; they are detestable: the eagle, the black vulture, the bearded vulture, ¹⁴ the kite, any kind of falcon, ¹⁵ any kind of raven, ¹⁶ the eagle owl, the short-eared owl, the long-eared owl, any kind of hawk, ¹⁷ the tawny owl, the fisher owl, the screech owl, ¹⁸ the white owl, the scops owl, the osprey, ¹⁹ the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat.^[a]

²⁰ Any flying insect that walks on four feet is detestable to you, ²¹ but you can eat four-footed flying insects that have jointed legs above their feet with which they hop on the ground. ²² Of these you can eat the following: any kind of migrating locust, any kind of bald locust, any kind of cricket, and any kind of grasshopper. ²³ But every other flying insect that has four feet is detestable to you.

Unclean animals

²⁴ You make yourself unclean by the following animals—whoever touches their dead bodies will be unclean until evening, ²⁵ and anyone who carries any part of their dead bodies must wash their clothes and will be unclean until evening: ²⁶ All animals that have divided hoofs, but they are not completely split, and that do not rechew food are unclean for you—whoever touches them will be unclean. ²⁷ Of all the animals that walk on four feet, the ones that walk on their paws are unclean for you—anyone who touches their dead bodies will be unclean until evening. ²⁸ Anyone who carries one of their dead bodies must wash their clothes and will be unclean until evening; these animals are unclean for you.

²⁹ The following are unclean for you among the small creatures that move about on the ground: the rat, the mouse, any kind of large lizard, ³⁰ the gecko, the spotted lizard, the lizard, the skink, and the chameleon.^{[b] 31} Of all small moving creatures, these are unclean for you—anyone who touches them when they are dead will be unclean until evening. ³² Moreover, anything on which one of these creatures falls when it is dead will be unclean, whether it is wood, cloth, skin, or funeral clothing—any such item that can be used to do work. It must be put into water and will be unclean until evening. Then it will be clean again. ³³ If any of these creatures fall into a pottery jar, everything inside it will be unclean; you must smash the pot. ³⁴ If water from such a jar gets on any edible food, it will be unclean; any drinkable beverage in such a jar will be unclean. ³⁵ Anything on which a part of these animals’ dead bodies might fall will be unclean. If it is an oven or stove, it must be destroyed; they are unclean for you and must remain that way. ³⁶ Now, a spring or cistern that collects water is clean, but anyone who touches one of these animals’ dead bodies in it will be unclean.^{[c] 37} If any part of these animals’ dead bodies falls on seed that is to be planted, the seed is still clean. ³⁸ But if water is poured on some seed and part of their dead bodies falls on it, it is unclean for you.

³⁹ If one of the animals that you are allowed to eat dies naturally, anyone who touches its dead body will be unclean until evening. ⁴⁰ Anyone who eats from the dead body must wash their clothes and will be unclean until evening. Anyone who carries such a dead body must wash their clothes and will be unclean until evening.

⁴¹ Every creature that swarms on the earth is detestable; it must not be eaten. ⁴² Among all such creatures that swarm on the earth, you must not eat anything that moves on its belly or anything that walks on four or more feet because they are detestable. ⁴³ Do not make yourselves detestable by means of any swarming creatures. Do not make yourselves unclean with them or be made unclean by them. ⁴⁴ I am the Lord your God. You must keep yourselves holy and be holy, because I am holy. You must not make yourselves unclean by any swarming creature that crawls on the ground. ⁴⁵ I am the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God. You must be holy, because I am holy.

Conclusion concerning animals and diet

⁴⁶ This concludes the Instruction concerning animals, birds, all creatures that live in water, and all the creatures that swarm on the earth, ⁴⁷ in order to distinguish between the unclean and the clean and between creatures that can be eaten and those that cannot.

Sacrifice at the sanctuary

17 The Lord said to Moses, ² Say to Aaron, to his sons, and to all the Israelites: This is what the Lord has commanded: ³ Anyone from the house of Israel who slaughters an ox, sheep, or goat inside or outside the camp ⁴ but does not bring it to the meeting tent’s entrance to present it as an offering to the Lord in front of the Lord’s dwelling^[a] will be considered guilty of bloodshed; they have spilled blood. They will be cut off from their people. ⁵ This will make the Israelites bring the communal sacrifices, which they are sacrificing in the countryside, to the Lord, to the priest at the meeting tent’s entrance, and sacrifice them as communal sacrifices of well-being to the Lord. ⁶ The priest will toss the blood against the Lord’s altar at the meeting tent’s entrance and burn the fat completely as a soothing smell to the Lord. ⁷ The Israelites must no longer sacrifice their communal sacrifices to the goat demons that they follow so faithlessly.^[b] This will be a permanent rule for them throughout their future generations. ⁸ You will also say to them: Anyone from Israel’s house or from the immigrants who live with you who offers up an entirely burned offering or communal sacrifice ⁹ without bringing it to the meeting tent’s entrance in order to offer it to the Lord will be cut off from their people.

Consuming blood forbidden

¹⁰ I will oppose the person who consumes blood—whether they are from Israel’s house or from the immigrants who live with you—and I will cut them off from their people. ¹¹ A creature’s life is in the blood. I have provided you the blood to make reconciliation for your lives on the altar, because the blood reconciles by means of the life.^{[c] 12} That is why I have told the Israelites: No one among you can consume blood, nor can the immigrant who lives with you consume blood.

¹³ Anyone who hunts any animal or bird that can be eaten—whether the hunter is an Israelite or an immigrant who lives with you—must drain its blood out and cover it with dirt. ¹⁴ Again: for every creature’s life, its blood is its life. That is why I have told the Israelites: You must not consume any creature’s blood because every creature’s life is its blood. Anyone who consumes it will be cut off.

Eating meat

¹⁵ Anyone, whether citizen or immigrant, who eats an animal that has died naturally or that was killed by another animal, must wash their clothes, bathe in water, and will be unclean until evening. At that time, they will be clean again. ¹⁶ If they do not wash or bathe their body, they will be liable to punishment.

²⁰ Once the Lord your God has enlarged your territory, as he promised you, and you think to yourself, I’d like to eat some meat (because you have the desire to do so), feel free to do so whenever you want. ²¹ But if the location that the Lord your God will choose to put his name is far away from where you live, then slaughter an animal from your herd or flock that the Lord has given you, just as I have commanded you, and eat it in your cities whenever you wish. ²² But be sure to eat it as if it were gazelle or deer. People who are polluted and people who are purified can feast on it together.

²³ Furthermore, make sure that you don’t consume any of the blood, because blood is life. You must not consume the life along with the meat. ²⁴ You must not consume any of it. Pour it out on the ground, just like water. ²⁵ You must not consume any of it so that things go well for you and for your children later because you did what was right in the Lord’s eyes.

²⁶ Note that you must bring your sacred offerings and your payments for solemn promises to the location the Lord selects, ²⁷ offering up your entirely burned sacrifices—both meat and blood—on the Lord your God’s altar. The blood from your sacrifices must be poured out on the Lord your God’s altar, but you are allowed to eat the meat.

Complete devotion to the Lord

14 You are the Lord’s children. Don’t cut yourselves and don’t shave your foreheads for the dead, ² because you are a people holy to the Lord your God. You are the ones whom the Lord selected to be his own, to be a treasured people out of all other people on earth.

Dietary laws

³ Don’t eat any detestable thing. ⁴ Here’s a list of animals you are allowed to eat: ox, sheep, goat, ⁵ deer, gazelle, roebuck, wild goat, ibex, antelope, and mountain sheep. ⁶ You are also allowed to eat any animal with a divided hoof—the hoof being divided into two parts—and that rechews food among the various kinds of animals. ⁷ However, here’s a list of animals that either rechew food or have hooves divided in two parts that you are not allowed to eat:

⁹ Here’s a list of the water animals you are allowed to eat: you can eat anything that has fins and scales. ¹⁰ But you aren’t allowed to eat anything that lacks scales or fins. These are off-limits for you.

¹¹ You are allowed to eat any clean bird. ¹² Here’s a list of those you are not allowed to eat: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey, ¹³ the red kite, the black kite, and any kind of bird of prey, ¹⁴ any kind of raven, ¹⁵ the ostrich, the nighthawk, the seagull, any kind of hawk, ¹⁶ the small owl and the large owl, the water hen, ¹⁷ the desert owl, the carrion vulture, the cormorant, ¹⁸ the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat.^[a]

¹⁹ Also, all winged insects are off-limits for you. They are not to be eaten. ²⁰ Any clean winged creature can be eaten, however.

²¹ You must not eat any decayed animal flesh because you are a people holy to the Lord your God. You can give decayed animal flesh to the immigrants who live in your cities, and they can eat it; or you can sell it to foreigners.

Don’t cook a lamb in its own mother’s milk.