Leviticus 11

₁The Lord talked to Moses and Aaron and He said: ₂‘You must tell the Israelites: You may not eat of all the animals on earth, you may eat only some animals. ₃You may eat any animal which has hooves that are divided into 2 parts and chews its food twice. _4-6There are animals that chew their food twice but they do not have hooves that are divided into 2 parts. You may not eat them, because they are impure. They are animals like camels, rabbits and rock-rabbits. ₇Pigs have hooves that are divided but they do not chew their food twice. They are impure. ₈You may not eat the meat from these animals and you may not touch their dead bodies, because they are impure.’

₉‘You may eat animals that live in the water, in the sea and in rivers if they have fins and scales. ₁₀But if the animals in the sea and rivers do not have fins and scales, then you may not eat them. You may not eat one of the many small animals that live in the water. ₁₁You may never eat the meat of those fish or animals and you may not touch their dead bodies. ₁₂You may not eat anything that does not have fins and scales.’

_13-19‘There are some birds that you may not eat or touch. They are eagles and fish-eagles, vultures, hawks, ravens, owls, ostriches, seagulls, pelicans, storks, herons, hoopoes and bats.’

₂₀‘You may not eat small animals which have wings and legs. ₂₁But you may eat small animals which have wings and legs if they can jump. ₂₂The ones that you may eat are all the kinds of locusts. ₂₃You may not touch the other animals that have wings and legs. ₂₄They will make you impure. Anyone who touches the dead body of one of these animals will be impure until the evening. ₂₅Someone who picks up the dead body of one of these animals must wash his clothes. He will be impure until the evening.’

₂₆‘An animal that chews his food twice and has hooves that are not divided all the way will make you impure. Anyone who touches these animals will become impure. ₂₇An animal that walks flat on its 4 feet is impure to you and anyone who touches the dead body of one of these animals will be impure until the evening. ₂₈Someone who picks up the dead body of one of these animals must wash his clothes and he will be impure until the evening. These animals are impure to you. _29-30There are small animals that crawl on the ground that are impure to you. They are moles, mice, lizards, geckos, monitors and chameleons. ₃₁They are impure animals. Anyone who touches the dead body of one of these animals will be impure until the evening.’

₃₂‘If the dead body of one of these animals falls onto something, then that thing will become impure. It may be made of wood, or cloth, or leather, of any other material or anything else that people use. You must put it into water and it will be impure until the evening. ₃₃If one of these impure animals falls into a clay pot, then everything in the pot will become impure and you must break the pot. ₃₄If there is water in the clay pot and the water touches any food, then the food will become impure. If there is anything in the clay pot that people can drink, then it will become impure. ₃₅If the dead body of one of these animals falls on anything, it will be impure. If it falls on an oven or a baking pan, then you must break it down. It is impure and will stay impure for you.

₃₆If a dead animal falls into a water-well or fountain and someone touches the dead animal, then that person will be impure, but the water will still be pure. ₃₇If a dead animal falls onto seeds that someone wants to sow, then the seeds will stay pure. ₃₈But if someone pours water onto the seeds and a dead animal falls onto it, then the seeds will be impure.

₃₉If one of the animals that you may eat dies, and someone touches the dead animal, then he will be impure until the evening. ₄₀People who eat the meat of that dead animal, or who pick it up, must wash their clothes and they will be impure until the evening.

₄₁Do not touch any of the small crawling animals on the ground. You may not eat them. ₄₂Do not touch animals that crawl on their stomach or walk on their feet or that have a lot of feet. You may not touch one of these animals and you may not eat them. ₄₃You may not touch one of these animals because, if you do, you will become impure and then no one else may touch you. ₄₄Do what I say because I am the Lord your God. You must consecrate yourselves to Me and you must be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves impure by any of these animals that crawl on the ground. ₄₅Do what I say because I am the Lord who has saved you from the land of Egypt to be your God. You must be consecrated to Me, because I am holy.

₄₆These are the laws about animals and birds and everything that lives in water and all the small animals on the ground. ₄₇You must know what is pure and what is impure. You must also know which animals you may eat and which animals you may not eat.’