GOD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them:
Speak to the Israelite people thus:These are the creatures that you may eat from among all the land animals:
any animal that has true hoofs, with clefts through the hoofs, and that chewsachews Lit. “brings up.” the cud—such you may eat.
The following, however, of those that either chew the cud or have true hoofs, you shall not eat: the camel—although it chews the cud, it has no true hoofs: it is impure for you;
the daman—although it chews the cud, it has no true hoofs: it is impure for you;
the hare—although it chews the cud, it has no true hoofs: it is impure for you;
and the swine—although it has true hoofs, with the hoofs cleft through, it does not chew the cud: it is impure for you.
You shall not eat of their flesh or touch their carcasses; they are impure for you.
These you may eat of all that live in water: anything in water, whether in the seas or in the streams, that has fins and scales—these you may eat.
But anything in the seas or in the streams that has no fins and scales, among all the swarming things of the water and among all the other living creatures that are in the water—they are an abomination for you
and an abomination for you they shall remain: you shall not eat of their flesh and you shall abominate their carcasses.
Everything in water that has no fins and scales shall be an abomination for you.
The followingbThe following A number of these cannot be identified with certainty. you shall abominate among the birds—they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, and the black vulture;
the kite, falcons of every variety;
all varieties of raven;
the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull; hawks of every variety;
the little owl, the cormorant, and the great owl;
the white owl, the pelican, and the bustard;
the stork; herons of every variety; the hoopoe, and the bat.
All winged swarming things that walk on fours shall be an abomination for you.
But these you may eat among all the winged swarming things that walk on fours: all that have, above their feet, jointed legs to leap with on the ground—
of these you may eat the following:cthe following A number of these cannot be identified with certainty. locusts of every variety; all varieties of bald locust; crickets of every variety; and all varieties of grasshopper.
But all other winged swarming things that have four legs shall be an abomination for you.
And the following shall make you impure—whoever touches their carcasses shall be impure until evening,
and whoever carries the carcasses of any of [these creatures] shall wash their clothes and be impure until evening—
every animal that has true hoofs but without clefts through the hoofs, or that does not chew the cud. They are impure for you; whoever touches them shall be impure.
Also all animals that walk on paws, among those that walk on fours, are impure for you; whoever touches their carcasses shall be impure until evening.
And anyone who carries their carcasses shall wash their clothes and remain impure until evening. They are impure for you.
The followingdThe following A number of these cannot be identified with certainty. shall be impure for you from among the things that swarm on the earth: the mole, the mouse, and great lizards of every variety;
the gecko, the land crocodile, the lizard, the sand lizard, and the chameleon.
Those are for you the impure among all the swarming things; whoever touches them when they are dead shall be impure until evening.
And anything on which one of them falls when dead shall be impure: be it any article of wood, or a cloth, or a skin, or a sack—any such article that can be put to use shall be dipped in water, and it shall remain impure until evening; then it shall be pure.
And if any of those falls into an earthen vessel, everything inside it shall be impure and [the vessel] itself you shall break.
As to any food that may be eaten, it shall become impure if it came in contact with water;eif it came in contact with water That is, if the food then came in contact with the carcass of any animal named in vv. 29–30. as to any liquid that may be drunk, it shall become impure if it was inside any vessel.fany vessel That is, one contaminated via contact with a carcass as in vv. 32–33.
Everything on which the carcass of any of them falls shall be impure: an oven or stove shall be smashed. They are impure—and impure they shall remain for you.
However, a spring or cistern in which water is collected shall be pure, but whoever touches such a carcass in it shall be impure.
If such a carcass falls upon seed grain that is to be sown, it is pure;
but if water is put on the seed and any part of a carcass falls upon it, it shall be impure for you.
If an animal that you may eat has died, anyone who touches its carcass shall be impure until evening;
anyone who eats of its carcass shall wash their clothes and remain impure until evening; and anyone who carries its carcass shall wash their clothes and remain impure until evening.
All the things that swarm upon the earth are an abomination; they shall not be eaten.
You shall not eat, among all things that swarm upon the earth, anything that crawls on its belly, or anything that walks on fours, or anything that has many legs; for they are an abomination.
You shall not draw abomination upon yourselves through anything that swarms; you shall not make yourselves impure therewith and thus become impure.
For I the ETERNAL am your God: you shall sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not make yourselves impure through any swarming thing that moves upon the earth.
For I the ETERNAL am the One who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God: you shall be holy, for I am holy.
These are the instructions concerning animals, birds, all living creatures that move in water, and all creatures that swarm on earth,
for distinguishing between the impure and the pure, between the living things that may be eaten and the living things that may not be eaten.