Leviticus 11

1 The LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them,

And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

2 “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘These are the living things which you may eat amongst all the animals that are on the earth.

Say to the children of Israel: These are the living things which you may have for food among all the beasts on the earth.

3 Whatever parts the hoof, and is cloven-footed, and chews the cud amongst the animals, that you may eat.

You may have as food any beast which has a division in the horn of its foot, and whose food comes back into its mouth to be crushed again.

4 “‘Nevertheless these you shall not eat of those that chew the cud, or of those who part the hoof: the camel, because it chews the cud but doesn’t have a parted hoof, is unclean to you.

But, at the same time, of those beasts, you may not take for food the camel, because its food comes back but the horn of its foot is not parted in two; it is unclean to you.

5 The hyrax, because it chews the cud but doesn’t have a parted hoof, is unclean to you.

And the rock-badger, for the same reason, is unclean to you.

6 The hare, because it chews the cud but doesn’t have a parted hoof, is unclean to you.

And the hare, because the horn of its foot is not parted in two, is unclean to you.

7 The pig, because it has a split hoof, and is cloven-footed, but doesn’t chew the cud, is unclean to you.

And the pig is unclean to you, because though the horn of its foot is parted, its food does not come back.

8 You shall not eat their meat. You shall not touch their carcasses. They are unclean to you.

Their flesh may not be used for food, and their dead bodies may not even be touched; they are unclean to you.

9 “‘You may eat of all these that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, that you may eat.

These you may have for food of all things living in the water: anything living in the water, in the seas or rivers, which has special parts for swimming and skin formed of thin plates, may be used for food.

10 All that don’t have fins and scales in the seas and rivers, all that move in the waters, and all the living creatures that are in the waters, they are an abomination to you,

All other things living and moving in the water, in the sea or in the rivers, are a disgusting thing to you;

11 and you shall detest them. You shall not eat of their meat, and you shall detest their carcasses.

They may not be used for food, and their dead bodies are disgusting to you.

12 Whatever has no fins nor scales in the waters is an abomination to you.

Anything in the water which has no special parts for swimming and no thin plates on its skin is disgusting to you.

13 “‘You shall detest these amongst the birds; they shall not be eaten because they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture,

And among birds these are to be disgusting to you, and not to be used for food: the eagle and the gier-eagle and the ospray;

14 the red kite, any kind of black kite,

And the kite and the falcon, and birds of that sort;

15 any kind of raven,

Every raven, and birds of that sort;

16 the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk,

And the ostrich and the night-hawk and the sea-hawk, and birds of that sort;

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

And the little owl and the cormorant and the great owl;

18 the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey,

And the water-hen and the pelican and the vulture;

19 the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat.

The stork and the heron, and birds of that sort, and the hoopoe and the bat.

20 “‘All flying insects that walk on all fours are an abomination to you.

Every winged four-footed thing which goes on the earth is disgusting to you;

21 Yet you may eat these: of all winged creeping things that go on all fours, which have long, jointed legs for hopping on the earth.

But of the winged four-footed things, those which have long legs for jumping on the earth you may have for food;

22 Even of these you may eat: any kind of locust, any kind of katydid, any kind of cricket, and any kind of grasshopper.

Such as all the different sorts of locust.

23 But all winged creeping things which have four feet are an abomination to you.

But all other winged four-footed things which go on the earth are disgusting to you.

24 “‘By these you will become unclean: whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening.

By these you will be made unclean; anyone touching their dead bodies will be unclean till evening:

25 Whoever carries any part of their carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening.

Whoever takes away the dead body of one of them is to have his clothing washed, and will be unclean till evening.

26 “‘Every animal which has a split hoof that isn’t completely divided, or doesn’t chew the cud, is unclean to you. Everyone who touches them shall be unclean.

Every beast, in the horn of whose foot there is not a complete division, and whose food does not come back, is unclean to you: anyone touching one of these will be unclean.

27 Whatever goes on its paws, amongst all animals that go on all fours, they are unclean to you. Whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening.

Any four-footed beast which goes on the ball of its foot, is unclean to you: anyone touching the dead body of one of these will be unclean till evening.

28 He who carries their carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening. They are unclean to you.

Anyone who takes away the dead body of one of these is to have his clothing washed and be unclean till evening.

29 “‘These are they which are unclean to you amongst the creeping things that creep on the earth: the weasel, the rat, any kind of great lizard,

And these are unclean to you among things which go low down on the earth; the weasel and the mouse and the great lizard, and animals of that sort;

30 the gecko, and the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink, and the chameleon.

And the ferret and the land crocodile and the lizard and the sand-lizard and the chameleon.

31 These are they which are unclean to you amongst all that creep. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until the evening.

All these are unclean to you: anyone touching them when they are dead will be unclean till evening.

32 Anything they fall on when they are dead shall be unclean; whether it is any vessel of wood, or clothing, or skin, or sack, whatever vessel it is, with which any work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the evening. Then it will be clean.

The dead body of any of these, falling on anything, will make that thing unclean; if it is any vessel of wood, or clothing, or skin, or bag, whatever it is, if it is used for any purpose, it will have to be put into water, and will be unclean till evening; after that it will be clean.

33 Every earthen vessel into which any of them falls and all that is in it shall be unclean. You shall break it.

And if one of them gets into any vessel of earth, whatever is in the vessel will be unclean and the vessel will have to be broken.

34 All food which may be eaten which is soaked in water shall be unclean. All drink that may be drunk in every such vessel shall be unclean.

Any food in it, and anything on which water from it comes, will be unclean: any drink taken from such a vessel will be unclean.

35 Everything whereupon part of their carcass falls shall be unclean; whether oven, or range for pots, it shall be broken in pieces. They are unclean, and shall be unclean to you.

Any part of the dead body of one of these, falling on anything, will make it unclean; if it is an oven or a cooking-pot it will have to be broken: they are unclean and will be unclean to you.

36 Nevertheless a spring or a cistern in which water is gathered shall be clean, but that which touches their carcass shall be unclean.

But at the same time a fountain or a place where water is stored for use will be clean; but anyone touching their dead bodies will be unclean.

37 If part of their carcass falls on any sowing seed which is to be sown, it is clean.

If any part of the dead body of one of these gets on to any seed for planting, it is clean;

38 But if water is put on the seed, and part of their carcass falls on it, it is unclean to you.

But if water is put on the seed, and any part of the dead body gets on to it, it will be unclean to you.

39 “‘If any animal of which you may eat dies, he who touches its carcass shall be unclean until the evening.

And if any beast which may be used for food comes to a natural death, anyone touching its dead body will be unclean till evening.

40 He who eats of its carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening. He also who carries its carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening.

And he who makes use of any part of its body for food is to have his clothing washed and be unclean till evening; and anyone taking away its body is to have his clothing washed and be unclean till evening.

41 “‘Every creeping thing that creeps on the earth is an abomination. It shall not be eaten.

Everything which goes flat on its body on the earth is disgusting, and is not to be used for food.

42 Whatever goes on its belly, and whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet, even all creeping things that creep on the earth, them you shall not eat; for they are an abomination.

Whatever goes on its stomach or on four feet or has a great number of feet, even all those going flat on the earth, may not be used for food, for they are disgusting.

43 You shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creeps. You shall not make yourselves unclean with them, that you should be defiled by them.

You are not to make yourselves disgusting with anything which goes about flat on the earth; you may not make yourselves unclean with them, in such a way that you are not holy to me.

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 kind of creeping thing that moves on the earth.

For I am the Lord your God: for this reason, make and keep yourselves holy, for I am holy; you are not to make yourselves unclean with any sort of thing which goes about flat on the earth.

45 For I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

For I am the Lord, who took you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God; so be you holy, for I am holy.

46 “‘This is the law of the animal, and of the bird, and of every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every creature that creeps on the earth,

This is the law about beasts and birds and every living thing moving in the waters, and every living thing which goes flat on the earth:

47 to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean, and between the living thing that may be eaten and the living thing that may not be eaten.’”

Marking out the unclean from the clean, and the living thing which may be used for food from that which may not.