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The Book of Leviticus 11

11 Then Yahweh spoke to Aaron and Moses. He said, 2 “Tell the people of Israel that, out of all the animals that live on dry land, the following animals are the ones that they may eat. 3 This is the rule: any animal that has hooves (and those hooves are completely cloven) and also chews the cud—these are the types of animals that are acceptable to eat.

4 However, there are some animals that have one of these traits but not both. These types of animals are not acceptable to eat. For example, camels are not acceptable to eat because, while they chew the cud, they do not have a completely cloven hoof. The people of Israel should consider any animal like this to be impure and unacceptable for eating. 5 Likewise, rock badgers are not acceptable to eat because, while they chew the cud, they do not have completely cloven hooves, because they do not have hooves at all. The people of Israel should also consider any animal like this to be impure and unacceptable to eat. 6 Rabbits also are unacceptable to eat because, while they chew the cud, they do not have completely cloven hooves, because they also do not have hooves at all. The people of Israel should also consider any animal like a rabbit to be impure and unacceptable to eat. 7 Pigs are likewise unacceptable to eat because, while they have hooves (and those hooves are completely cloven), they do not chew cud. Because of this, the people of Israel should also consider any animal like a pig to be impure and not acceptable to eat. 8 No Israelite should ever eat any meat from these animals. They should not even touch their dead bodies. Rather, the people of Israel should consider all of these types of animals to be impure and unacceptable to eat.

9 Now, out of all the types of creatures that live in water, these are the ones that the people of Israel may eat. This is the rule: The people of Israel may eat anything that lives in water that has both fins and scales, whether in the ocean or in a freshwater stream. 10 However, there are many animals that live in the ocean or in freshwater streams but do not have both fins and scales. Whether they are smaller, swarming creatures or larger ones, these types of creatures should disgust the people of Israel. They should consider them to be completely unacceptable to eat. 11 Because these creatures should disgust the people of Israel, the people of Israel should never eat meat from any of these creatures. Their dead bodies should also disgust them. 12 Once again, this is the rule: the people of Israel should consider any creature that lives in the water but does not have both fins and scales to be disgusting. They should consider this kind of animal to be completely unacceptable to eat.

13 Now, these are some examples of the types of birds that should disgust the people of Israel. They should never eat these birds, but rather they should consider these types of birds to be disgusting. These birds include griffon vultures, black vultures, bearded vultures, 14 kites, any kind of falcon, 15 any kind of raven, 16 eagle owls, both short-eared and long-eared owls, any kind of hawk, 17 tawny owls, fisher owls, screech owls, 18 white owls, scops owls, osprey, 19 storks, any kind of heron, hoopoes, and bats.

20 The people of Israel should also consider any kind of flying insect that swarms and has four legs to be disgusting and completely unacceptable to eat. 21 However, the people of Israel may eat any flying insect that both swarms and has four legs, if its legs are jointed and the insect jumps about on the ground. 22 For example, these are some examples of the types of insects that the people of Israel may eat. They may eat any kind of locust, any kind of bald locust, any kind of cricket, and any kind of grasshopper. 23 But the people of Israel should consider any other winged insect that swarms and also has four legs to be disgusting and completely unacceptable to eat.

24 These types of unacceptable and impure animals and insects will make the people of Israel impure. Anyone who touches their dead bodies will make themself impure so that they cannot touch sacred objects or enter into holy space until the evening of the day when they touched one of these animals or insects. 25 Anyone who picks up one of their dead bodies should wash his clothes to purify himself from the impurity of the dead animal or insect. That person will be impure and should not touch sacred objects or enter into holy space until the evening of the day when he touched the dead animal or insect.

26 Remember, the people of Israel should consider impure and unacceptable any animal that, while having hooves, does not have completely cloven hooves or does not also chew the cud. Anyone who touches one of these animals will make themself impure as well. 27 Likewise, out of all the animals that have four legs, the people of Israel should consider any animal that has paws impure and unacceptable to eat. Anyone who touches the dead body of one of these animals will make themself impure and should not touch any other person or any sacred object or enter into any sacred space until the evening of the day when he touched the dead animal. 28 Anyone who picks up one of the dead bodies of any of these animals should wash his clothes to purify themself from the impurity of the animal's dead body. That person will be impure and so should not touch other people or sacred objects or enter into any sacred space until the evening of the day when they touched the animal's dead body. For this reason, the people of Israel should consider these animals to be impure and not acceptable to eat.

29 Out of all the animals that swarm on the ground, these are the ones that the people of Israel should consider to be impure: rats, mice, any kind of large lizard, 30 geckos, spotted lizards, newts, skinks, and chameleons. 31 Remember, out of all the animals that swarm, the people of Israel should consider these types of animals to be impure and unacceptable to eat. Anyone who touches one of them after it has died will make themself impure so that person should not touch anyone else or any sacred object or enter into any sacred space until the evening of the day when he touched the animal's dead body. 32 Likewise, it may happen that one of these impure animals or insects falls onto something after it has died. If this happens, that object will become impure. Whether it is wood, cloth, leather, or burlap, if it is something that the people of Israel use for domestic purposes, whoever owns the object should soak it in water. The people of Israel should consider the object to be impure until the evening of the day on which the animal's dead body fell onto it. After that evening, whoever owns the object should consider it be to clean and acceptable to use for its intended purpose. 33 It may happen that one of these impure animals or insects falls into a clay pot. If this happens, the people of Israel should consider everything in the pot to be impure. Whoever owns the pot should shatter it. 34 It may also happen that the water from a clay pot into which an impure animal or insect has fallen happens to come into contact with anything edible. If this happens, that food will also be impure and no one should eat it. This is because once an impure animal or insect comes into contact with any drinkable liquid that is in a pot, that liquid also becomes impure. 35 Any object onto which the dead body of any of these impure animals or insects falls will also become impure. Whether the dead body falls onto an oven or a small stove, whoever owns the object should smash it to pieces. The people of Israel should consider that object to be impure and unacceptable for its original intended purpose. It will not cease to be impure but will remain impure. 36 However, it may happen that the dead body of one of these impure animals or insects falls into a spring or any system for collecting and storing water. If this happens, the water that comes out of it is still pure. The people of Israel may drink it. Nonetheless, anyone who touches one of those dead bodies will still become impure. 37 Likewise, it may happen that the dead body of one of these impure animals or insects happens to fall onto any plantable seeds that someone was going to plant. If this happens, those seeds are still pure. Whoever owns them may still plant them. 38 Alternatively, it may happen that the dead body of one of these impure animals or insects falls on those seeds after whoever planted the seeds has watered them. If this happens, then the people of Israel could consider those seeds to be impure and unacceptable.

39 It may happen that an animal that the people of Israel may eat dies and someone touches it. If this happens, whoever has touched it has made himself impure so that he should not touch another person or any sacred object or enter into any sacred space until the evening of the day when he touched the animal's dead body. 40 Furthermore, anyone who eats any meat from the animal's dead body should wash his clothes to purify them. He has made himself impure until the evening of the day when he ate the animal's meat. Likewise, anyone who carries the animal's dead body should wash his clothes to purify them. He has made himself impure until the evening of the day when he carried the animal's dead body.

41-42 41-42The Israelite people should consider any animals or insects that swarm on the ground to be disgusting and completely unacceptable to eat. No Israelite should ever eat these animals. This means that no Israelite should ever eat any animal that crawls on its belly and also has four legs or any animal that has many legs, like a swarming ground-dwelling insect. This is because the Israelite people should consider these animals and insects to be disgusting and completely unacceptable to eat. 43 The Israelite people should never make themselves disgusting by eating or touching any of these swarming insects or animals. Neither should they make themselves impure or defile themselves by touching or eating them. 44 Remember who I am: I am Yahweh your God and I am holy. The people of Israel must likewise be holy people because I am holy. Do not cause yourselves to become impure by eating or touching swarming animals or insects that crawl along the ground. 45 Remember that I, Yahweh, freed the Israelite people when they were slaves in Egypt. I did this so that I could be their God. Therefore, because I am holy, they should be holy people.

46 These are the instructions for how the people of Israel should handle domestic animals, birds, any swarming fish that live in water, or any swarming insects or animals that live on dry land. 47 The people of Israel should learn to distinguish what is unacceptable to Yahweh and impure from that which is acceptable to Yahweh and pure. This means that they should also learn to distinguish those living creatures that are acceptable to eat from those that are unacceptable to eat.”

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