Leviticus 11:1-28

Common English Bible

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.