Clean and Unclean Foods^(A)

11 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them: ² Speak to the children of Israel, saying: These are the living things which you shall eat among all the animals that are on the earth. ³ Whatever animal has a parted hoof (that is, split-hoofed), and chews the cud among the animals, that one you shall eat.

⁴ Nevertheless these you shall not eat of those that chew the cud or of those that have a divided hoof: The camel, because it chews the cud but does not have a divided hoof, is unclean to you; ⁵ the rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not have a divided hoof, is unclean to you; ⁶ the hare, because it chews the cud but does not have a divided hoof, is unclean to you; ⁷ the pig, though it does have a divided hoof (that is, split-hoofed), yet it does not chew the cud, is unclean to you; ⁸ you shall not eat of their flesh, and their carcasses you must not touch; they are unclean to you.

⁹ These you shall eat of all that are in the waters: Whatever has fins and scales in the waters, in the seas and in the rivers, these you shall eat; ¹⁰ all that do not have fins and scales in the seas and in the rivers, from all that move in the waters and from any living thing that is in the waters, they are detestable to you; ¹¹ they shall be detestable to you. You shall not eat of their flesh, and you shall detest their carcasses. ¹² Whatever has no fins or scales in the waters is detestable to you.

¹³ These you shall detest among the birds; they shall not be eaten; they are detestable: the griffon vulture, the bearded vulture, and the black vulture, ¹⁴ the kite, and buzzard of any kind, ¹⁵ the raven of any kind, ¹⁶ and the eagle owl, the short-eared and long-eared owls, and the hawk of any kind, ¹⁷ and the little owl, the cormorant, and the screech owl, ¹⁸ and the white owl, the scops owl, and the osprey, ¹⁹ and the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.

²⁰ All flying insects that walk, moving on all fours, shall be detestable to you. ²¹ Yet these you may eat of every flying insect that creeps on all fours: those that have jointed legs above their feet with which to hop on the ground. ²² Even of these you may eat: the locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, and the grasshopper of any kind. ²³ But all other flying insects that have four feet shall be detestable to you.

²⁴ And by these you shall be unclean. Whoever touches the carcass of these shall be unclean until the evening.

Unclean Animals

²⁵ Whoever carries any of the carcasses of these shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. ²⁶ The carcass of every animal that divides the hoof but is not completely split-hoofed nor chews the cud is unclean to you. Everyone who touches them shall be unclean. ²⁷ Whatever animal that walks on its paws, among all manner of animals that go on all fours, those are unclean to you. Whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening. ²⁸ He who carries the carcass of these shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; they are unclean to you.

²⁹ These also shall be unclean to you among the crawling things that move on the ground: the mole rat, the mouse, and the great lizard of any kind, ³⁰ and the gecko, the lizard, the wall gecko, the sand lizard, and the chameleon. ³¹ These are unclean to you among all that crawl. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until the evening. ³² And anything on which any of them falls when they are dead shall be unclean, whether it be an article of wood or clothing or a skin or a sack, any article that is used for any purpose. It must be put in water. And it shall be unclean until the evening; then it shall be clean. ³³ Every clay vessel into which any of these falls, everything in it shall be unclean, and you shall break it. ³⁴ Any food in it that may be eaten on which water is poured shall be unclean, and any drink that may be drunk in every such vessel shall be unclean. ³⁵ Everything on which any part of their carcass falls shall be unclean; whether it is an oven or stove, it shall be broken to pieces. They are unclean and shall be unclean to you. ³⁶ Nevertheless a fountain or cistern where there is plenty of water shall be clean, but whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean. ³⁷ If any part of their carcass falls on any grain seed that is to be sown, it shall be clean. ³⁸ But if any water is put on the seed, and any part of their carcass fall on it, it shall be unclean to you.

³⁹ If any animal from which you may eat dies, whoever touches the carcass shall be unclean until the evening. ⁴⁰ And the person who eats of the carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. The person who carries the carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening.

⁴¹ Every crawling thing that moves on the ground shall be detestable. It shall not be eaten. ⁴² Whatever goes on its belly, and whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet from any crawling things that move on the earth, you shall not eat them for they are detestable. ⁴³ You shall not make yourselves detestable with any crawling thing that moves, nor shall you make yourselves unclean with them, that you should thereby be defiled by them. ⁴⁴ For I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and you shall be holy, for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any manner of crawling thing that moves on the ground. ⁴⁵ For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. Therefore you shall be holy, for I am holy.

⁴⁶ This is the law for the animals, and the fowls, and every living creature that moves in the waters, and every creature that crawls on the ground, ⁴⁷ to differentiate between the unclean and the clean, and between the animal that may be eaten and the animal that may not be eaten.