Leviticus 11
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Clean and Unclean Foods
11 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, 2 “Speak to the Israelites:
“From among all the land animals, these are the creatures that you may eat.(A) 3 Any animal that has divided hoofs and is cleft-footed and chews the cud—such you may eat. 4 But among those that chew the cud or have divided hoofs, you shall not eat the following: the camel, for even though it chews the cud, it does not have divided hoofs; it is unclean for you. 5 The rock badger, for even though it chews the cud, it does not have divided hoofs; it is unclean for you. 6 The hare, for even though it chews the cud, it does not have divided hoofs; it is unclean for you. 7 The pig, for even though it has divided hoofs and is cleft-footed, it does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you.(B) 8 Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch; they are unclean for you.(C)
9 “These you may eat, of all that are in the waters. Everything in the waters that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the streams—such you may eat.(D) 10 But anything in the seas or the streams that does not have fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and among all the other living creatures that are in the waters—they are detestable to you,(E) 11 and detestable they shall remain. Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall regard as detestable. 12 Everything in the waters that does not have fins and scales is detestable to you.
13 “These you shall regard as detestable among the birds. They shall not be eaten; they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey, 14 the buzzard, the kite of any kind; 15 every raven of any kind; 16 the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk of any kind; 17 the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, 18 the water hen, the desert owl,[a] the carrion vulture, 19 the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.[b]
20 “All winged insects that walk upon all fours are detestable to you. 21 But among the winged insects that walk on all fours you may eat those that have jointed legs above their feet, with which to leap on the ground. 22 Of them you may eat: locusts of every kind, bald locusts of every kind, crickets of every kind, and grasshoppers of every kind.(F) 23 But all other winged insects that have four feet are detestable to you.
Unclean Animals
24 “By these you shall become unclean; whoever touches the carcass of any of them shall be unclean until the evening, 25 and whoever carries any part of the carcass of any of them shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening.(G) 26 Every animal that has divided hoofs but is not cleft-footed or does not chew the cud is unclean for you; everyone who touches one of them shall be unclean. 27 All that walk on their paws, among the animals that walk on all fours, are unclean for you; whoever touches the carcass of any of them shall be unclean until the evening, 28 and the one who carries the carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; they are unclean for you.
29 “These are unclean for you among the creatures that swarm upon the earth: the weasel, the mouse, lizards of every kind,(H) 30 the gecko, the land crocodile, the lizard, the sand lizard, and the chameleon. 31 These are unclean for you among all that swarm; whoever touches one of them when they are dead shall be unclean until the evening. 32 And anything upon which any of them falls when they are dead shall be unclean, whether an article of wood or cloth or leather or sackcloth, any article that is used for any purpose; it shall be dipped in water, and it shall be unclean until the evening, and then it shall be clean.(I) 33 And if any of them falls into any clay vessel, all that is in it shall be unclean, and you shall break the vessel.(J) 34 Any food that could be eaten shall be unclean if water from any such vessel comes upon it, and any liquid that could be drunk shall be unclean if it was in any such vessel. 35 Everything on which any part of the carcass falls shall be unclean; whether an oven or stove, it shall be broken in pieces; they are unclean and shall remain unclean for you. 36 But a spring or a cistern holding water shall be clean, while whatever touches the carcass in it shall be unclean. 37 If any part of their carcass falls upon any seed set aside for sowing, it is clean, 38 but if water is put on the seed and any part of their carcass falls on it, it is unclean for you.
39 “If an animal of which you may eat dies, anyone who touches its carcass shall be unclean until the evening. 40 Those who eat of its carcass shall wash their clothes and be unclean until the evening, and those who carry the carcass shall wash their clothes and be unclean until the evening.(K)
41 “All creatures that swarm upon the earth are detestable; they shall not be eaten.(L) 42 Whatever moves on its belly and whatever moves on all fours or whatever has many feet, all the creatures that swarm upon the earth you shall not eat, for they are detestable. 43 You shall not make yourselves detestable with any creature that swarms; you shall not defile yourselves with them and so become unclean.(M) 44 For I am the Lord your God; sanctify yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming creature that moves on the earth.(N) 45 For I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt, to be your God; you shall be holy, for I am holy.(O)
46 “This is the law pertaining to land animal and bird and every living creature that moves through the waters and every creature that swarms upon the earth, 47 to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean and between the living creature that may be eaten and the living creature that may not be eaten.”(P)
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Leviticus 11
International Standard Version
Clean and Unclean Animals(A)
11 The Lord told Moses and Aaron,[a] 2 “Tell the Israelis that these are the living creatures that you may eat among the animals of the earth: 3 You may eat any animal that has divided hooves with cloven feet and that ruminates its cud, 4 except you are not to eat the following animals that have divided hooves or ruminate their cud: the camel (because it chews the cud but doesn’t have divided hooves, it is to be unclean for you), 5 the rock badger (because it chews its cud but its hooves aren’t divided, it is to be unclean for you), 6 the hare (because it chews its cud, but its hooves aren’t divided, it is to be unclean for you), 7 and the pig (because it has divided hooves and is therefore cloven-footed, but it doesn’t ruminate its cud, it is to be unclean for you). 8 You are not to eat their flesh or even touch their carcasses. They are to be unclean for you.”
Clean and Unclean Seafood
9 “You may eat anything that lives in the water—that is, you may eat anything that has fins and scales either from the seas or from the rivers. 10 But anything that doesn’t have fins or scales—whether from the seas or the rivers—any of the swarming creatures and living creatures in the waters are detestable for you. 11 They are to remain detestable for you. You are not to eat of their meat and you are to detest their carcasses. 12 Anything that doesn’t have fins or scales in the waters is a detestable thing for you.”
Clean and Unclean Winged Creatures
13 “These are detestable things for you among winged creatures that you are not to eat, because they are detestable for you: the eagle, vulture, osprey, 14 red kite, falcons of any kind, 15 every kind of raven, 16 ostrich, nighthawk, seagull, hawks of every kind, 17 owls, cormorants, the ibis, 18 water-hens, pelicans, carrion, 19 storks, herons of every kind, the hoopoe, bata, 20 and any winged insect that crawls on four legs is detestable for you. 21 However, you may eat winged creatures that crawl on four legs that extend over its head and by which it hops on the ground. 22 These creatures that you may eat include the locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, and the grasshopper of any kind. 23 But any other winged insect that has four legs is detestable for you 24 and is unclean. Anyone who touches their carcasses becomes unclean until evening. 25 And anyone who carries their carcasses is to wash his clothes, since he will remain unclean until evening.”
Summary of Clean and Unclean
26 “Any animal that has divided hooves and is cloven-footed but doesn’t chew the cud is unclean for you. Anyone who touches them is unclean. 27 Among the animals, anything that walks on their paws and on four legs is unclean for you. Anyone who touches their carcasses becomes unclean until evening. 28 Whoever carries their carcass is to wash their clothes, because they’ve become unclean until evening. They’re unclean for you.
29 “These are unclean for you among the swarming creatures that crawl over the land: the rat,[b] mouse, lizards of every kind, 30 the gecko, crocodile, lizard, sand lizard, and chameleon. 31 These are unclean for you among the swarming creatures, so anyone who touches them when they’re dead becomes unclean until evening. 32 Furthermore, anything on which they fall when they’re dead becomes unclean, whether on an article of wood, clothing, skin, or a sack. And any vessel used for any work is to be washed in water, because it has become unclean until evening. 33 Any earthen vessel into which any of these things fall becomes unclean, along with everything in it. You are to destroy it, along with all its contents.”
Clean and Unclean Vessels
34 “Any food that may be eaten, but into which water has soaked, becomes unclean. Any drink that may be drunk in any of these vessels becomes unclean, 35 and anything into which their carcass falls becomes unclean. An oven or stove is to be broken in pieces. They’re unclean and therefore unclean for you.
36 “A spring or a cistern that holds water is clean, but whoever touches the carcass of an unclean animal will be unclean. 37 If their carcass falls on a seed, which is for sowing, what is to be sown is clean. 38 But if water is put on the seed and part of their carcass falls on it, then it has become unclean for you.
39 “If any of the animals that you may eat dies, the one who touches its carcass becomes unclean until evening. 40 The one who eats from its carcass is to wash his clothes, because he has become unclean until evening. Even the one who carries the carcass is to wash his clothes, because he has become unclean until evening.”
Unclean Swarming Animals
41 “Every swarming thing that swarms the land is detestable for you. It is not to be eaten. 42 You are not to eat anything that crawls on its belly, anything that walks on four legs, anything that has many legs, or any of the swarming creatures that swarm the land, because they’re detestable. 43 You are not to make yourselves detestable on account of any swarming creature that swarms the land, and you are not to defile yourselves and become unclean due to them, 44 because I, the Lord, am your God. Set yourselves apart and be holy, because I am holy. You are not to defile yourselves with any of the swarming creatures that swarm the earth. 45 I am the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You are to be holy, because I am holy. 46 This is the law concerning animals, every living creature that moves on the waters or swarms[c] on land. 47 You are to differentiate between the clean and unclean, between the living creature that can be eaten and the living creature that is not to be eaten.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Leviticus 11:1 Lit. to them
- Leviticus 11:29 Or weasel
- Leviticus 11:46 Lit. every living creature
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