Leviticus 11

1 And YHWH speaks to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them,

Yahweh said to Aaron and Moses/me,

2 “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, This [is] the beast which you eat out of all the beasts which [are] on the earth:

“Tell the Israeli people that [this is what Yahweh says]: From all the animals that live on the land, these are the ones that you are permitted to eat:

3 any dividing a hoof, and cleaving the cleft of the hooves, bringing up the cud, among the beasts—you eat it.

The ones that have hooves that are completely split and that (chew their cuds/bring their food up from their stomachs to chew it again).

4 Only, this you do not eat, of those bringing up the cud, and of those dividing the hoof: the camel, though it is bringing up the cud, yet the hoof is not dividing—it [is] unclean to you;

There are some animals that chew their cuds but do not have split hooves, and some animals that have split hooves but do not chew their cuds. You must not eat any of those animals. [For example], camels chew their cuds but do not have split hooves, so they are unacceptable for you to eat.

5 and the hyrax, though it is bringing up the cud, yet the hoof is not divided—it [is] unclean to you;

Rock badgers chew their cuds but do not have split hooves, so they are unacceptable for you to eat.

6 and the hare, though it is bringing up the cud, yet the hoof has not divided—it [is] unclean to you;

Rabbits chew their cuds but do not have split hooves, so they are unacceptable for you to eat.

7 and the sow, though it is dividing the hoof, and cleaving the cleft of the hoof, yet it does not bring up the cud—it [is] unclean to you.

Pigs have completely split hooves but they do not chew their cuds, so they are unacceptable for you to eat.

8 You do not eat of their flesh, and you do not come against their carcass—they [are] unclean to you.

All of those animals are unacceptable for you, so you must not eat their meat or even touch their carcasses.

9 This you eat of all which [are] in the waters: anything that has fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the brooks, them you eat;

From all the creatures that live in the oceans and the streams, you are permitted to eat any that have fins and scales.

10 and anything that does not have fins and scales in the seas, and in the brooks, of any teeming creature of the waters, and of any creature which lives, which [is] in the waters—they [are] an abomination to you;

But you must detest [and not eat] those that do not have fins and scales. That includes ones that are very small.

11 indeed, they are an abomination to you; you do not eat of their flesh, and you detest their carcass.

You must despise them, and you must not eat their meat, and you must detest their carcasses.

12 Anything that does not have fins and scales in the waters—it [is] an abomination to you.

You must detest everything that lives in the water that does not have fins and scales.

13 And these you detest of the bird—they are not eaten, they [are] an abomination: the eagle, and the bearded vulture, and the osprey,

There are some birds that you must detest [and not eat]. They include eagles, bearded vultures, black vultures,

14 and the kite, and the falcon after its kind,

kites, any kind of falcon/buzzard,

15 every raven after its kind,

any kind of raven,

16 and the ostrich, and the nightjar [[or male ostrich]], and the seagull, and the hawk after its kind,

horned owls, screech owls, seagulls, any kind of hawk,

17 and the little owl, and the cormorant, and the great owl,

small owls, cormorants, large owls,

18 and the waterhen, and the pelican, and the Egyptian vulture,

white owls, desert owls, vultures that eat dead animals,

19 and the stork, the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat.

storks, any kind of heron, hoopoes, and bats.

20 Every teeming creature which is flying, which is going on four [legs]—it [is] an abomination to you.

You must detest [and not eat] flying insects that [sometimes] walk on the ground [MTY].

21 Only, this you eat of any teeming thing which is flying, which is going on four, which has legs above its feet, to move with them on the earth;

But you are permitted to eat creatures with wings that sometimes walk on the ground if they have jointed legs for hopping around.

22 these of them you eat: the locust after its kind, and the bald locust after its kind, and the cricket after its kind, and the grasshopper after its kind;

They include locusts, crickets, and grasshoppers.

23 and every teeming thing which is flying, which has four feet—it [is] an abomination to you.

But you must detest [and not eat] other insects with wings that have four legs.

24 And you are made unclean by these; anyone who is coming against their carcass is unclean until the evening;

‘There are certain creatures that if you touch their carcasses you will become defiled. Anyone who touches their carcasses must not touch other people until that evening.

25 and anyone who is lifting up of their carcass washes his garments, and has been unclean until the evening—

Anyone who picks up one of their carcasses must wash his clothes and not touch other people until that evening.

26 even every beast which is dividing the hoof, and is not cloven-footed, and is not bringing up the cud—they [are] unclean to you; anyone who is coming against them is unclean.

‘The animals whose carcasses you must not touch are those that have hooves that are not completely divided or animals that do not chew their cuds. Anyone who touches the carcasses of any of those animals becomes (defiled/unacceptable to me).

27 And anything going on its paws, among all the beasts which are going on four—they [are] unclean to you; anyone who is coming against their carcass is unclean until the evening;

From all the animals that walk on the ground, you must not touch the carcasses of those that have paws to walk on. Anyone who touches one of their carcasses must not touch other people until that evening.

28 and he who is lifting up their carcass washes his garments, and has been unclean until the evening—they [are] unclean to you.

Anyone who picks up one of their carcasses must wash his clothes and not touch other people until that evening, because touching their carcasses (defiles you/causes you to become unacceptable to me).

29 And this [is] the unclean to you among the teeming things which are teeming on the earth: the weasel, and the muroid, and the tortoise [[or large lizard]] after its kind,

‘From all the animals that walk on the ground, these are the ones that (defile you/cause you to become unacceptable to me) [if you touch them]: Moles, rats, any kind of lizard,

30 and the gecko [[or ferret]], and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole;

geckos, skinks, and chameleons.

31 these [are] the unclean to you among all which are teeming; anyone who is coming against them in their death is unclean until the evening.

Those creatures that scurry across the ground (defile you/cause you to become unacceptable to me); anyone who touches one of their carcasses must not touch other people until the evening.

32 And anything on which anyone of them falls, in their death, is unclean, of any vessel of wood or garment or skin or sack, any vessel in which work is done is brought into water, and has been unclean until the evening, then it has been clean;

When one of those creatures dies and falls on something, the thing that it falls on, whatever it is used for, will become (defiled/unacceptable to me), whether it is made of wood or cloth or the hide of some animal or from rough cloth. You must put it in water. Then you must not use it until that evening.

33 and any earthen vessel, into the midst of which [any] one of them falls, all that [is] in its midst is unclean, and you break it.

If one of them falls into a clay pot, everything in it becomes defiled, and you must break that pot into pieces.

34 Of all the food which is eaten, that on which comes [such] water, is unclean, and all drink which is drunk in any [such] vessel is unclean;

If you pour water from that pot on any food, you must not eat that food. And you must not drink any water from that pot.

35 and anything on which [any] of their carcass falls is unclean; oven or double pots, it is broken down, they [are] unclean, indeed, they are unclean to you.

Anything that one of the carcasses of those creatures falls on becomes (defiled/unacceptable to me); even if it falls on an oven or a cooking pot, anything that it falls on must be broken into pieces. It becomes unacceptable to me and you must not use it again.

36 Only, a fountain or pit, a collection of water, is clean, but that which is coming against their carcass is unclean;

If one of their carcasses falls into a spring or a pit for storing water, the water may still be drunk, but anyone who touches one of those carcasses becomes unacceptable to me.

37 and when [any] of their carcass falls on any sown seed which is sown—it [is] clean;

If one of those carcasses falls on seeds that are to be planted, those seeds are still acceptable to be planted.

38 and when water is put on the seed, and [any] of its carcass has fallen on it—it [is] unclean to you.

But if water has been put on the seeds and then a carcass falls on them, the seeds must be thrown away.

39 And when any of the beasts which are for food for you dies, he who is coming against its carcass is unclean until the evening;

‘If an animal [whose meat] you are permitted to eat dies, anyone who touches its carcass must not touch other people until that evening.

40 and he who is eating of its carcass washes his garments, and has been unclean until the evening; and he who is lifting up its carcass washes his garments, and has been unclean until the evening.

Anyone who eats some meat from that carcass must wash his clothes, and then he must not touch anyone until that evening.

41 And every teeming thing which is teeming on the earth is an abomination, it is not eaten;

‘All creatures that scurry across the ground, including those that move on their bellies and those that crawl, are detestable, and they must not be eaten.

42 anything going on the belly, and any going on four, to every multiplier of feet, to every teeming thing which is teeming on the earth—you do not eat them, for they [are] an abomination;

43 you do not make yourselves abominable with any teeming thing which is teeming, nor do you make yourselves unclean with them, so that you have been unclean with them.

Do not (defile yourselves/cause you to become unacceptable to me) by [eating] any of those creatures [DOU].

44 For I [am] your God YHWH, and you have sanctified yourselves, and you have been holy, for I [am] holy; and you do not defile your persons with any teeming thing which is creeping on the earth;

I am Yahweh your God, and I am holy, so you must consecrate yourselves and be holy. You must avoid eating things that cause you to be unacceptable to me. Do not cause yourselves to become unacceptable to me by eating creatures that scurry across the ground.

45 for I [am] YHWH who am bringing you up out of the land of Egypt to become your God; and you have been holy, for I [am] holy.

I am Yahweh, the one who freed you from [being slaves in] Egypt, in order to be your God. Therefore, because I am holy, you must be holy.

46 This [is] a law of the beasts, and of the bird, and of every living creature which is moving in the waters, and of every creature which is teeming on the earth,

'Those are the regulations concerning animals and birds, all the living creatures that live in water or scurry across the ground.

47 to make separation between the unclean and the pure, and between the beast that is eaten, and the beast that is not eaten.”

You must learn what things [I say] are acceptable to me and what things are not, and learn what things you are permitted to eat and what things you are not permitted to eat.’”