Leviticus
Chapter 11
1 God spoke to Moses and Aaron, telling them,
2 Tell the people of Israel, “You can eat these animals from all the animals on the earth.”
3 Whatever animal has a split hoof and chews the cud among the animals, you can eat.
4 You must not eat these animals that chew the cud or have split hooves: the camel chews the cud but does not have a split hoof; it is unclean for you.
5 The rock badger, because it chews its food again but does not have split hooves, is unclean for you.
6 The rabbit, because it chews the cud but does not have split hooves, is unclean for you.
7 Pigs have split hooves but don’t chew their food again; they are not clean for you.
8 Do not eat their meat or touch their dead bodies; they are unclean for you.
9 You can eat any sea creature with fins and scales from the water, sea, or river.
10 All creatures in the sea or rivers that do not have fins and scales, and every living thing in the water, are not to be eaten by you.
11 You should find them disgusting; do not eat their meat, and consider their dead bodies disgusting too.
12 Anything in the water that doesn’t have fins or scales is disgusting to you.
13 You must hate these birds and never eat them because they are dirty: the eagle, the vulture, and the kite.
14 Also the vulture and every kind of kite.
15 All kinds of ravens.
16 The owl, the nighthawk, the cuckoo, and the hawk, each of its own kind,
17 Also the little owl, the cormorant, and the large owl,
18 The swan, the pelican, and the vulture,
19 Also the stork, all types of herons, the lapwing, and the bat.
20 All birds that crawl on four legs must disgust you.
21 You can eat any flying insects that walk on four legs and have joints above their legs to jump on the earth.
22 You can eat these: different types of locusts, bald locusts, beetles, and grasshoppers.
23 But all other flying insects that have four legs will be disgusting to you.
24 You will be unclean if you touch the dead body of these animals until evening.
25 Anyone who touches any part of a dead animal must wash their clothes and will be unclean until the evening.
26 The bodies of any animals that have split hooves but are not completely split or do not chew their food well are not clean for you; anyone who touches them will be unclean.
27 Any animal that walks on its paws among all the four-legged animals is unclean to you; anyone who touches their dead body will be unclean until evening.
28 Whoever carries their dead body must wash their clothes and will be unclean until evening; they are unclean to you.
29 These animals are also unclean for you among the ones that crawl on the ground: the weasel, the mouse, and the tortoise of its kind.
30 The ferret, the chameleon, the lizard, the snail, and the mole.
31 These crawling creatures are impure to you: anyone who touches them after they die will be impure until evening.
32 If any of these dead creatures falls on something, that thing will become unclean. This includes any wooden object, clothes, leather, or bag—anything used for work. It must be put in water and will be unclean until evening; then it will be clean.
33 If something unclean falls into a clay pot, everything inside it becomes unclean, and you must break the pot.
34 All food that can be eaten will become unclean if water touches it; any drink that can be drunk from any container will become unclean too.
35 Anything that touches any part of their dead body will be unclean; this includes ovens and cooking stoves, which must be destroyed because they are unclean and will be unclean to you.
36 Even so, a spring or well with lots of water will be clean, but anything that touches a dead body will be unclean.
37 If any piece of their dead body touches seeds that are to be planted, the seeds are still clean.
38 If water touches the seed and any part of a dead body touches it, it becomes unclean to you.
39 If an animal you can eat dies, anyone who touches its dead body will be unclean until evening.
40 Anyone who eats from the dead body must wash their clothes and will be unclean until evening; and anyone who carries the dead body must wash their clothes and will be unclean until evening.
41 Every crawling creature on earth is unclean and must not be eaten.
42 Do not eat any creature that crawls on its belly, walks on all fours, or has many legs. They are not to be eaten because they are disgusting.
43 Do not make yourself disgusting with any crawling creature, nor make yourself dirty with them, so you don’t become unclean through them.
44 I am your God, so make yourselves holy and be holy because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean with any crawling creature on the earth.
45 I am God who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. So you must be holy, because I am holy.
46 This is the rule for animals, birds, all creatures that live in the water, and every creature that crawls on the ground.
47 To show the difference between what is unclean and clean, and between animals you can eat and those you cannot.