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Leviticus 11
New English Translation

Clean and Unclean Land Creatures

11 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, 2 “Tell the Israelites: ‘This is the kind of creature you may eat from among all the animals[a] that are on the land. 3 You may eat any among the animals that has a divided hoof (the hooves are completely split in two[b]) and that also chews the cud.[c] 4 However, you must not eat these[d] from among those that chew the cud and have divided hooves: The camel is unclean to you[e] because it chews the cud[f] even though its hoof is not divided.[g] 5 The rock badger[h] is unclean to you because it chews the cud even though its hoof is not divided. 6 The hare is unclean to you because it chews the cud even though its hoof is not divided. 7 The pig is unclean to you because its hoof is divided (the hoof is completely split in two[i]) , even though it does not chew the cud.[j] 8 You must not eat from their meat and you must not touch their carcasses;[k] they are unclean to you.

Clean and Unclean Water Creatures

9 “‘These you can eat from all creatures that are in the water: Any creatures in the water that have both fins and scales,[l] whether in the seas or in the streams,[m] you may eat. 10 But any creatures that do not have both fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the streams, from all the swarming things of the water and from all the living creatures that are in the water, are detestable to you. 11 Since they are detestable to you, you must not eat their meat and their carcass you must detest. 12 Any creature in the water that does not have both fins and scales is detestable to you.

Clean and Unclean Birds

13 “‘These you are to detest from among the birds—they must not be eaten, because they are detestable:[n] the griffon vulture, the bearded vulture, the black vulture, 14 the kite, the buzzard of any kind,[o] 15 every kind of crow,[p] 16 the eagle owl,[q] the short-eared owl, the long-eared owl, the hawk of any kind, 17 the little owl, the cormorant, the screech owl, 18 the white owl, the scops owl, the osprey, 19 the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.

Clean and Unclean Insects

20 “‘Every winged swarming thing that walks on all fours[r] is detestable to you. 21 However, this you may eat from all the winged swarming things that walk on all fours, which have jointed legs[s] to hop with on the land. 22 These you may eat from them:[t] the locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, the grasshopper of any kind. 23 But any other winged swarming thing that has four legs is detestable to you.

Carcass Uncleanness

24 “‘By these[u] you defile yourselves—anyone who touches their carcass will be unclean until the evening, 25 and anyone who carries their carcass must wash his clothes and will be unclean until the evening.

Inedible Land Quadrupeds

26 “‘All[v] animals that divide the hoof, but it is not completely split in two,[w] and do not chew the cud[x] are unclean to you; anyone who touches them becomes unclean.[y] 27 All that walk on their paws among all the creatures that walk on all fours[z] are unclean to you. Anyone who touches their carcass will be unclean until the evening, 28 and the one who carries their carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; they are unclean to you.

Creatures that Swarm on the Land

29 “‘Now this is what is unclean to you among the swarming things that swarm on the land:[aa] the rat, the mouse, the large lizard of any kind, 30 the Mediterranean gecko, the spotted lizard, the wall gecko, the skink, and the chameleon. 31 These are the ones that are unclean to you among all the swarming things. Anyone who touches these creatures[ab] when they die will be unclean until evening. 32 Also, anything they fall on[ac] when they die will become unclean—any wood vessel or garment or article of leather or sackcloth. Any such vessel with which work is done must be immersed in water[ad] and will be unclean until the evening. Then it will become clean. 33 As for any clay vessel they fall into,[ae] everything in it[af] will become unclean and you must break it. 34 Any food that may be eaten which becomes soaked with water[ag] will become unclean. Anything drinkable[ah] in any such vessel will become unclean.[ai] 35 Anything their carcass may fall on will become unclean. An oven or small stove must be smashed to pieces; they are unclean, and they will stay unclean[aj] to you. 36 However, a spring or a cistern which collects water[ak] will be clean, but one who touches the creature’s carcass will be unclean. 37 Now, if such a carcass falls on any sowing seed which is to be sown,[al] it is clean, 38 but if water is put on the seed and such a carcass falls on it, it is unclean to you.

Edible Land Animals

39 “‘Now if an animal[am] that you may eat dies,[an] whoever touches its carcass will be unclean until the evening. 40 One who eats from its carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening, and whoever carries its carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. 41 Every swarming thing that swarms on the land is detestable; it must not be eaten. 42 You must not eat anything that crawls[ao] on its belly or anything that walks on all fours or on any number of legs[ap] of all the swarming things that swarm on the land, because they are detestable. 43 Do not make yourselves detestable by any of the swarming things.[aq] You must not defile yourselves by them and become unclean by them, 44 for I am the Lord your God and you are to sanctify yourselves and be holy because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any of the swarming things that creep on the ground, 45 for I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God,[ar] and you are to be holy because I am holy. 46 This is the law[as] of the land animals, the birds, all the living creatures that move in the water, and all the creatures[at] that swarm on the land, 47 to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between the living creatures that may be eaten and the living creatures that must not be eaten.’”

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Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 11:2 tn Heb “the animal,” but as a collective plural, and so throughout this chapter.
  2. Leviticus 11:3 tn Heb “every divider of hoof and cleaver of the cleft of hooves”; KJV, ASV “parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted.”
  3. Leviticus 11:3 tn Heb “bringer up of the cud” (a few of the ancient versions include the conjunction “and,” but it does not appear in the MT). The following verses make it clear that both dividing the hoof and chewing the cud were required; one of these conditions would not be enough to make the animal suitable for eating without the other.
  4. Leviticus 11:4 tn Heb “this,” but as a collective plural (see the following context).
  5. Leviticus 11:4 sn Regarding “clean” versus “unclean,” see the note on Lev 10:10.
  6. Leviticus 11:4 tn Heb “because a chewer of the cud it is” (see also vv. 5 and 6).
  7. Leviticus 11:4 tn Heb “and hoof there is not dividing” (see also vv. 5 and 6).
  8. Leviticus 11:5 sn A small animal generally understood to be Hyrax syriacus; KJV, ASV, NIV “coney”; NKJV “rock hyrax.”
  9. Leviticus 11:7 tn See the note on Lev 11:3.
  10. Leviticus 11:7 tn The meaning and basic rendering of this clause is quite certain, but the verb for “chewing” the cud here is not the same as the preceding verses, where the expression is “to bring up the cud” (see the note on v. 3 above). It appears to be a cognate verb for the noun “cud” (גֵּרָה, gerah) and could mean either “to drag up” (i.e., from the Hebrew Qal of גָרָר [garar] meaning “to drag,” referring to the dragging the cud up and down between the stomach and mouth of the ruminant animal; so J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:647, 653) or “to chew” (i.e., from the Hebrew Niphal [or Qal B] of גָרָר used in a reciprocal sense; so J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 149, and compare BDB 176 s.v. גָרַר, “to chew,” with HALOT 204 s.v. גרר qal. B, “to ruminate”).
  11. Leviticus 11:8 sn The regulations against touching the carcasses of dead unclean animals (contrast the restriction against eating their flesh) is treated in more detail in Lev 11:24-28 (cf. also vv. 29-40). For the time being, this chapter continues to develop the issue of what can and cannot be eaten.
  12. Leviticus 11:9 tn Heb “all which have fin and scale” (see also vv. 10 and 12).
  13. Leviticus 11:9 tn Heb “in the water, in the seas and in the streams” (see also vv. 10 and 12).
  14. Leviticus 11:13 tn For zoological remarks on the following list of birds see J. Milgrom, Leviticus (AB), 1:662-64; and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 159-60.
  15. Leviticus 11:14 tn Heb “and the buzzard to its kind” (see also vv. 16 and 19 for the same expression “of any kind”).
  16. Leviticus 11:15 tn Heb “every crow to its kind.” Many English versions (e.g., KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) render this as “raven.”
  17. Leviticus 11:16 tn Literally, “the daughter of the wasteland.” Various proposals for the species of bird referred to here include “owl” (KJV), “horned owl” (NIV, NCV), and “ostrich” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).
  18. Leviticus 11:20 tn Heb “the one walking on four” (cf. vv. 21-23 and 27-28).
  19. Leviticus 11:21 tn Heb “which to it are lower legs from above to its feet” (reading the Qere “to it” rather than the Kethib “not”).
  20. Leviticus 11:22 tn For entomological remarks on the following list of insects see J. Milgrom, Leviticus (AB), 1:665-66; and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 160-61.
  21. Leviticus 11:24 tn Heb “and to these.”
  22. Leviticus 11:26 tn Heb “to all” (cf. the note on v. 24). This and the following verses develop more fully the categories of uncleanness set forth in principle in vv. 24-25.
  23. Leviticus 11:26 tn Heb “divides hoof and cleft it does not cleave”; KJV “divideth the hoof, and is not clovenfooted”; NLT “divided but unsplit hooves.”
  24. Leviticus 11:26 tn See the note on Lev 11:3.
  25. Leviticus 11:26 sn Compare the regulations in Lev 11:2-8.
  26. Leviticus 11:27 tn Heb “the one walking on four.” Cf. Lev 11:20-23.
  27. Leviticus 11:29 tn For zoological analyses of the list of creatures in vv. 29-30, see J. Milgrom, Leviticus (AB), 1:671-72; and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 161-62.
  28. Leviticus 11:31 tn Heb “touches them.”
  29. Leviticus 11:32 tn Heb “And all which it shall fall on it from them.”
  30. Leviticus 11:32 tn Heb “in water it shall be brought.”
  31. Leviticus 11:33 tn Heb “And any earthenware vessel which shall fall from them into its midst.”
  32. Leviticus 11:33 tn Heb “all which is in its midst.”
  33. Leviticus 11:34 tn Heb “which water comes on it.”
  34. Leviticus 11:34 tn Heb “any drink which may be drunk”; NASB “any liquid which may be drunk”; NLT “any beverage that is in such an unclean container.”
  35. Leviticus 11:34 tn This half of the verse assumes that the unclean carcass has fallen into the food or drink (cf. v. 33 and also vv. 35-38).
  36. Leviticus 11:35 tn Heb “be unclean.”
  37. Leviticus 11:36 tn Heb “a spring and a cistern collection of water”; NAB, NIV “for collecting water.”
  38. Leviticus 11:37 tn Heb “And if there falls from their carcass on any seed of sowing which shall be sown.”
  39. Leviticus 11:39 tn This word for “animal” refers to land animal quadrupeds, not just any beast that dwells on the land (cf. 11:2).
  40. Leviticus 11:39 tn Heb “which is food for you” or “which is for you to eat.”
  41. Leviticus 11:42 tn Heb “goes” (KJV, ASV “goeth”); NIV “moves about”; NLT “slither along.” The same Hebrew term is translated “walks” in the following clause.
  42. Leviticus 11:42 tn Heb “until all multiplying of legs.”
  43. Leviticus 11:43 tn Heb “by any of the swarming things that swarm.”
  44. Leviticus 11:45 tn Heb “to be to you for a God.”
  45. Leviticus 11:46 sn The Hebrew term translated “law” (תּוֹרָה, torah) introduces here a summary or colophon for all of Lev 11. Similar summaries are found in Lev 7:37-38; 13:59; 14:54-57; and 15:32-33.
  46. Leviticus 11:46 tn Heb “for all the creatures.”
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Leviticus 11
New International Version

Clean and Unclean Food(A)

11 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 2 “Say to the Israelites: ‘Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat:(B) 3 You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud.

4 “‘There are some that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof, but you must not eat them.(C) The camel, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is ceremonially unclean for you. 5 The hyrax, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you. 6 The rabbit, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you. 7 And the pig,(D) though it has a divided hoof, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. 8 You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.(E)

9 “‘Of all the creatures living in the water of the seas and the streams you may eat any that have fins and scales. 10 But all creatures in the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales—whether among all the swarming things or among all the other living creatures in the water—you are to regard as unclean.(F) 11 And since you are to regard them as unclean, you must not eat their meat; you must regard their carcasses as unclean.(G) 12 Anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales is to be regarded as unclean by you.(H)

13 “‘These are the birds you are to regard as unclean and not eat because they are unclean: the eagle,[a] the vulture, the black vulture, 14 the red kite, any kind(I) of black kite, 15 any kind of raven,(J) 16 the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, 17 the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, 18 the white owl,(K) the desert owl, the osprey, 19 the stork,(L) any kind(M) of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.(N)

20 “‘All flying insects that walk on all fours are to be regarded as unclean by you.(O) 21 There are, however, some flying insects that walk on all fours that you may eat: those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground. 22 Of these you may eat any kind of locust,(P) katydid, cricket or grasshopper. 23 But all other flying insects that have four legs you are to regard as unclean.

24 “‘You will make yourselves unclean by these;(Q) whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean till evening.(R) 25 Whoever picks up one of their carcasses must wash their clothes,(S) and they will be unclean till evening.(T)

26 “‘Every animal that does not have a divided hoof or that does not chew the cud is unclean for you; whoever touches the carcass of any of them will be unclean. 27 Of all the animals that walk on all fours, those that walk on their paws are unclean for you; whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean till evening. 28 Anyone who picks up their carcasses must wash their clothes, and they will be unclean till evening.(U) These animals are unclean for you.

29 “‘Of the animals that move along the ground, these are unclean for you:(V) the weasel, the rat,(W) any kind of great lizard, 30 the gecko, the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink and the chameleon. 31 Of all those that move along the ground, these are unclean for you. Whoever touches them when they are dead will be unclean till evening. 32 When one of them dies and falls on something, that article, whatever its use, will be unclean, whether it is made of wood, cloth, hide or sackcloth.(X) Put it in water; it will be unclean till evening, and then it will be clean. 33 If one of them falls into a clay pot, everything in it will be unclean, and you must break the pot.(Y) 34 Any food you are allowed to eat that has come into contact with water from any such pot is unclean, and any liquid that is drunk from such a pot is unclean. 35 Anything that one of their carcasses falls on becomes unclean; an oven or cooking pot must be broken up. They are unclean, and you are to regard them as unclean. 36 A spring, however, or a cistern for collecting water remains clean, but anyone who touches one of these carcasses is unclean. 37 If a carcass falls on any seeds that are to be planted, they remain clean. 38 But if water has been put on the seed and a carcass falls on it, it is unclean for you.

39 “‘If an animal that you are allowed to eat dies,(Z) anyone who touches its carcass(AA) will be unclean till evening. 40 Anyone who eats some of its carcass(AB) must wash their clothes, and they will be unclean till evening.(AC) Anyone who picks up the carcass must wash their clothes, and they will be unclean till evening.

41 “‘Every creature that moves along the ground is to be regarded as unclean; it is not to be eaten. 42 You are not to eat any creature that moves along the ground, whether it moves on its belly or walks on all fours or on many feet; it is unclean. 43 Do not defile yourselves by any of these creatures.(AD) Do not make yourselves unclean by means of them or be made unclean by them. 44 I am the Lord your God;(AE) consecrate yourselves(AF) and be holy,(AG) because I am holy.(AH) Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground.(AI) 45 I am the Lord, who brought you up out of Egypt(AJ) to be your God;(AK) therefore be holy, because I am holy.(AL)

46 “‘These are the regulations concerning animals, birds, every living thing that moves about in the water and every creature that moves along the ground. 47 You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between living creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten.(AM)’”

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Footnotes

  1. Leviticus 11:13 The precise identification of some of the birds, insects and animals in this chapter is uncertain.
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