The Fallible · Synthetic · Study Bible
Clean and Unclean Animals
Leviticus 11:1–47 — Clean and Unclean Animals. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.
1The LORD spoke again to Moses and Aaron, telling them,
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Yah·weh way·ḏab·bêr ’el- mō·šeh wə·’el- ’a·hă·rōn lê·mōr ’ă·lê·hem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-spoke YHWH to Moses and-to Aaron, saying to-them —
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the Lord here honours Aaron, as well as Moses, by making this communication to them conjointly. Besides, Aaron as minister was as much concerned in these laws as Moses the legislator.
This charge is given to them jointly; to the one, as chief governor, and to the other, as high-priest; both being greatly concerned in the execution of it. The priest was to direct the people about the things forbidden or allowed, and the magistrate was to see the direction followed.
The high priest, in regard to the legal purifications, is treated as co-ordinate with the legislator.
The laws which follow were given to Moses and AaronK&D ties the joint address to Aaron’s recent anointing — the priest is now sanctified to expiate Israel’s uncleannesses.
These laws seem to have been intended, 1. As a test of the people's obedience, as Adam was forbidden to eat of the tree of knowledge; and to teach them self-denial, and the government of their appetites.Henry's note runs across the whole chapter (11:1–47); this is his lead rationale, set here at the head where the law opens. He reads the diet as a probationary discipline of the appetite, echoing Eden.
2“Say to the Israelites, ‘Of all the beasts of the earth, these ones you may eat:
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dab·bə·rū ’el- bə·nê yiś·rā·’êl lê·mōr zōṯ mik·kāl hab·bə·hê·māh ’ă·šer ‘al- hā·’ā·reṣ ha·ḥay·yāh ’ă·šer tō·ḵə·lū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Speak to the-sons-of Israel, saying: This is-the-living-thing that you-may-eat, from-all the-beasts that-are upon the-earth.
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Though every creature of God be good and pure in itself, as appears from Genesis 1:31 Matthew 15:11 Romans 14:14 ; yet it pleased God to make a difference between clean and unclean, and to restrain the use of them, which he did in general and in part before the flood, Genesis 7:2
This is in accordance with the Hebrew division of the animal kingdom into four principal classes :—(1) the land animals, (2) the water animals, (3) the birds of the air, and (4) the swarming animals.
Although every creature of God be good and pure in itself, yet it pleased God to make a difference between the clean and unclean. This indeed he did, in part, before the flood, (as appears from Genesis 7:2 ,)
the first and strongest reason for instituting a distinction among meats was to discourage the Israelites from spreading into other countries, and from general intercourse with the worldJFB advances the national-separation reading; the closing voices of the chapter (vv. 44–45) will tie that separation to holiness, not mere ethnicity.
3You may eat any animal that has a split hoof completely divided and that chews the cud.
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tō·ḵê·lū kōl bab·bə·hê·māh ’ō·ṯāh še·sa‘ pə·rā·sōṯ map̄·re·seṯ par·sāh wə·šō·sa·‘aṯ ma·‘ă·laṯ gê·rāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Everything parting the-hoof and-cleaving a-cleft of-hooves, bringing-up the-cud, among-the-beasts — it you-may-eat.
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interpreters guess that God would hereby signify their duties by the first, that of dividing the word of God aright, and discerning between good and evil, between God’s institutions and men’s inventions; and by the latter, that duty of recalling God’s word to our minds, and serious meditation upon it.Poole offers the moral-typological reading of the two marks; he frames it candidly as interpreters’ conjecture, not the law’s stated reason.
These qualities are not assigned as reasons why such animals are proper for food, but merely as marks whereby to distinguish them.
The first rule laid down by which the clean quadruped is to be distinguished is that the hoofs must be completely cloven or divided above as well as below
He notes four types of beasts, some that chew the cud only, and some that only have the hoof cleft. Others neither chew the cud, nor have the hoof cleft, and the fourth both chew the cud and have the hoof divided, which may be eaten.
4But of those that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof, you are not to eat the following: The camel, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you.
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’aḵ ’eṯ- mim·ma·‘ă·lê hag·gê·rāh ū·mim·map̄·rî·sê hap·par·sāh ’eṯ- lō ṯō·ḵə·lū zeh hag·gā·māl kî- hū ma·‘ă·lêh ḡê·rāh ’ê·nen·nū map̄·rîs ū·p̄ar·sāh hū ṭā·mê lā·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Only these you-shall-not-eat, of-the-ones-bringing-up the-cud or-of-the-ones-parting the-hoof: the-camel, though it brings-up the-cud, yet hoof it-does-not-part — unclean it is for-you.
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Better, though he cheweth the cud, yet he divideth not, as the same phrase is properly rendered in the Authorised Version in Leviticus 11:7 .
The toes of the camel are divided above, but they are united below in a sort of cushion or pad resting upon the hard bottom of the foot, which is "like the sole of a shoe."
It does to a certain extent divide the hoof, for the foot consists of two large parts, but the division is not complete; the toes rest upon an elastic pad on which the animal goes
Any animal which was wanting in either of these marks was to be unclean, or not to be eaten.
5The rock badger, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you.
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wə·’eṯ- haš·šā·p̄ān kî- hū ma·‘ă·lêh ḡê·rāh lō yap̄·rîs ū·p̄ar·sāh hū ṭā·mê lā·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-rock-badger, though it brings-up the-cud, yet hoof it-does-not-part — unclean it is for-you.
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These shrewd Administrators of the law must also have noticed that it was the habit of the feeble conies to seek refuge and build in the fissures of the rocks
The Hyrax has the same habit as the hare, the rabbit, the guinea-pig, and some other rodents, of moving its jaws when it is at rest as if it were masticating.
The coney (rock-badger) and hare move their jaws like beasts which chew the cud, but are not ruminating animals. Here, as in other passages of the Bible, the language is popular, rather than scientific.
It is doubted whether we translate the word rightBenson registers the translational uncertainty over šāp̄ān frankly — a model of the honesty this layer aims to keep.
6The rabbit, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you.
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wə·’eṯ- hā·’ar·ne·ḇeṯ kî- hî ma·‘ă·laṯ gê·rāh lō hip̄·rî·sāh ū·p̄ar·sāh hî ṭə·mê·’āh lā·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-hare, though it brings-up the-cud, yet hoof it-does-not-part — unclean it is for-you.
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The rule respecting chewing the cud was given to and by Moses as a legislator, not as an anatomist, to serve as a sign by which animals might be known to be clean for food.
As the object of the legislator was to furnish the people with marks by which they were to distinguish the clean from the unclean animals, he necessarily adopted those which were in common vogue, and which alone were intelligible in those days.
Neither the hare nor the coney are really ruminating. They only appear to be so from working the jaws on the grasses they live on.
7And the pig, though it has a split hoof completely divided, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you.
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wə·’eṯ- ha·ḥă·zîr kî- hū še·sa‘ par·sāh map̄·rîs wə·šō·sa‘ par·sāh wə·hū lō- yig·gār gê·rāh hū ṭā·mê lā·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-swine, though it [has] a-split hoof — parting, cleaving the-hoof — yet it does-not chew the-cud; unclean it is for-you.
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The Jews would not so much as name the swine, but called it another or a strange thing, lest the naming of it should tempt them to eat this meat, which was so commonly used and so much esteemed by others.
the abhorrence which the Jews, as a nation, have always had of this animal, and the impurity which they have ascribed to it infinitely surpass their repulsion of any other unclean beast. For this reason it became the symbol of defilement and the badge of insult
To eat pork was by them regarded as abjuring their religion, and it is recorded as one of the abominations that were forced upon the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes in the Maccabaean persecution
The prohibition of the use of swine's flesh does not arise from the fear of trichinosis or other disease, but from the disgust caused by the carnivorous and filthy habits of the Eastern pig.
8You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.
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lō ṯō·ḵê·lū mib·bə·śā·rām ṯig·gā·‘ū ū·ḇə·niḇ·lā·ṯām lō hêm ṭə·mê·’îm lā·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Of-their-flesh you-shall-not-eat, and-their-carcass you-shall-not-touch; unclean they are for-you.
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Ye shall not touch, to wit, in order to eating, as may be gathered by comparing this with Genesis 3:3 Colossians 2:21 .
"Of their flesh shall ye not eat (i.e., not slay these animals as food), and their carcase (animals that had died) shall ye not touch." The latter applied to the clean or edible animals also, when they had died a natural death
During the second Temple the prohibition was defined to extend to the smallest quantity. If any one ate a piece of flesh less even than the size of an olive he was chastised with stripes.
Not in order to eating. But the fat and skins of some of the forbidden creatures were useful, and might be used by them.
Those who would be kept from any sin, must be careful to avoid all temptations to it, or coming near it.Henry draws the moral edge of the touch-prohibition (his note covers 11:1–47): the law against handling the carcass teaches distance from the very approach to defilement.
9Of all the creatures that live in the water, whether in the seas or in the streams, you may eat anything with fins and scales.
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’eṯ- mik·kōl ’ă·šer bam·mā·yim bay·yam·mîm ū·ḇan·nə·ḥā·lîm ’ō·ṯām tō·ḵê·lū tō·ḵə·lū zeh kōl ’ă·šer- lōw sə·nap·pîr wə·qaś·qe·śeṯ bam·ma·yim
Literal — word-for-word from the original
This you-may-eat of-all that-is in-the-waters: everything that has fins and-scales in-the-waters, in-the-seas and-in-the-streams — them you-may-eat.
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The names of them are not particularly mentioned, partly because most of them wanted names, the fishes not being brought to Adam and named by him as other creatures were
Like the clean quadrupeds, the salt-water and the fresh-water fish must comply with two conditions to bring them within the class of clean. They must have both scales and fins.
Any fish, either from salt water or fresh, might be eaten if it had both scales and fins. but no other creature that lives in the waters.
Of water animals, everything in the water, in seas and brooks, that had fins and scales was edible.
10But the following among all the teeming life and creatures in the water are detestable to you: everything in the seas or streams that does not have fins and scales.
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hêm mik·kōl še·reṣ ha·ḥay·yāh ’ă·šer bam·mā·yim ne·p̄eš ham·ma·yim še·qeṣ lā·ḵem wə·ḵōl bay·yam·mîm ū·ḇan·nə·ḥā·lîm ’ă·šer ’ên- lōw sə·nap·pîr wə·qaś·qe·śeṯ ū·mik·kōl
Literal — word-for-word from the original
But-everything that-has-not fins and-scales, in-the-seas and-in-the-streams, of-all the-swarm of-the-waters and-of-every living-soul that is in-the-waters — a-detestable-thing it is to-you.
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The flesh of the beasts for, bidden to be eaten is only described as unclean, but that of the prohibited fish, birds, insects, and vermin, is designated as an abomination unto you .From the Pulpit Commentary's verses 9–12 note: it marks the escalation from “unclean” (beasts) to “abomination” (fish, birds, swarmers) — the lexical shift to šeqeṣ seen in v. 10.
all other inhabitants of the water are forbidden. Hence all shell-fish, whether molluscs or crustaceans, and cetaceous animals, are unclean.
As little fish begotten in the slime.
Everything else that swarmed in the water was to be an abomination, its flesh was not to be eaten, and its carrion was to be avoided with abhorrence.
11They shall be an abomination to you; you must not eat their meat, and you must detest their carcasses.
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yih·yū wə·še·qeṣ lā·ḵem lō ṯō·ḵê·lū wə·’eṯ- mib·bə·śā·rām tə·šaq·qê·ṣū niḇ·lā·ṯām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-a-detestable-thing they-shall-be to-you; of-their-flesh you-shall-not-eat, and-their-carcass you-shall-detest.
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This clause is added to show that they were neither abominable in their own nature, nor for the food of other nations; and consequently when the partition-wall between Jews and Gentiles was taken away, these distinctions of meats were to cease. See Ac 10 .
This is repeated again and again, to deter from the eating of such fishes, lest there should be any desire after them
its flesh was not to be eaten, and its carrion was to be avoided with abhorrence.
12Everything in the water that does not have fins and scales shall be detestable to you.
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kōl bam·mā·yim ’ă·šer ’ên- lōw sə·nap·pîr wə·qaś·qe·śeṯ še·qeṣ hū lā·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Everything that-has-not fins and-scales in-the-waters — a-detestable-thing it is to-you.
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Which is repeated that they might take particular notice of this law, and be careful to observe it, this being the only sign given
Under this classification frogs, eels, shellfish of all descriptions, were included as unclean
not only were all water animals other than fishes, such as crabs, salamanders, etc., forbidden as unclean; but also fishes without scales, such as eels for example.
13Additionally, you are to detest the following birds, and they must not be eaten because they are detestable: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture,
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wə·’eṯ- tə·šaq·qə·ṣū min- ’êl·leh hā·‘ō·wp̄ lō yê·’ā·ḵə·lū hêm ’eṯ- še·qeṣ han·ne·šer wə·’eṯ- hap·pe·res wə·’êṯ hā·‘ā·zə·nî·yāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-these you-shall-detest among the-birds; they-shall-not be-eaten, a-detestable-thing they-are: the-eagle, and-the-bone-breaker, and-the-black-vulture,
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The true signification of these and the following Hebrew words is now lost, as the Jews at this day confess, which not falling out without God’s singular providence may intimate the cessation or abolition of this law, the exact observation whereof since Christ came is become impossible.
being all either ravenous and cruel, or such as delight in the night and darkness, or such as feed upon impure things, it seems evident that the prohibition of them was intended to teach men to abominate all cruelty and oppression, and all works of darkness and filthiness.
The griffon, of the vulture family, is denoted by this Heb. word. The eagle cannot be described as bald, having feathers on the head and neck, but the griffon has only down.
the birds here mentioned are such as live upon animal food. They were those which the Israelites might have been tempted to eat, either from their being easy to obtain, or from the example of other nations
14the kite, any kind of falcon,
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wə·’eṯ- had·dā·’āh wə·’eṯ- lə·mî·nāh hā·’ay·yāh
Literal — word-for-word from the original
and-the-kite, and-the-falcon after-its-kind,
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Its name in the original ( dââh ), which literally denotes the swift, majestic and gliding flier, appropriately describes this bird, which sails with its expanded wings through the air, where it often pauses as if suspended, watching for its prey.
râ’âh is doubtless a copyist’s error for dâ’âhCambridge candidly traces the bird-name confusion to a scribal slip between the parallel lists — a window into the text’s transmission.
after his kind—that is, the prohibition against eating it extended to the whole species.
15any kind of raven,
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’êṯ kāl- lə·mî·nōw ‘ō·rêḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
every raven after-its-kind,
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which includes, besides ravens properly so called, crows, rooks, pies, &c.
i.e., the whole genus of ravens, with the rest of the raven-like birds, such as crows, jackdaws, and jays, which are all of them natives of Syria and Palestine.
The phrase, “every raven after his kind,” clearly shows that the whole genus of ravens is intended, with all the raven-like birds, such as the rook, the crow, the jackdaw, the jay, &c, which abound in Syria and Palestine.
16the ostrich, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk,
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wə·’êṯ baṯ hay·ya·‘ă·nāh wə·’eṯ- hat·taḥ·mās wə·’eṯ- haš·šā·ḥap̄ wə·’eṯ- lə·mî·nê·hū han·nêṣ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
and-the-ostrich, and-the-night-hawk, and-the-gull, and-the-hawk after-its-kind,
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Rather, "and the ostrich, and the owl, and the gull, and the hawk," etc.
The meaning of the Heb. taḥmâṣ is very uncertain. The root seems to indicate a bird of aggressive and violent character.
The hawk was held pre-eminently sacred among the Egyptians; and this, besides its rapacious disposition and gross habits, might have been a strong reason for its prohibition as an article of food to the Israelites.
17the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl,
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wə·’eṯ- hak·kō·ws wə·’eṯ- haš·šā·lāḵ wə·’eṯ- hay·yan·šūp̄
Literal — word-for-word from the original
and-the-little-owl, and-the-cormorant, and-the-great-owl,
Where the English smooths the original
The name kos which is translated “owl” in the three above-named passages, is the common Hebrew word for “cup,” and it is supposed that it has been given to this bird because the sitting owl especially widens towards the upper part, thus imparting to it a cup-like appearance.
The common barn owl, which is well known in the East. It is the only bird of its kind here referred to, although the word is thrice mentioned in our version.
18the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey,
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wə·’eṯ- hat·tin·še·meṯ wə·’eṯ- haq·qā·’āṯ wə·’eṯ- hā·rā·ḥām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
and-the-white-owl, and-the-desert-owl, and-the-osprey,
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The swan - More probably the ibis, the sacred bird of the Egyptians. "The gier eagle" is most likely the Egyptian vulture, a bird of unprepossessing appearance and disgusting habits, but fostered by the Egyptians as a useful scavenger.
another kind of owl. The Heb. root (also used in Leviticus 11:30 for the chameleon [ mole A.V.]) suggests a bird that makes a snorting sound, or breathes hard.Cambridge notes the same Hebrew word names a bird here and a lizard in v. 30 — the surest sign these terms are not fixed species.
It was held sacred by the Egyptians, and kept tame within the precincts of heathen temples. It was probably on this account chiefly that its use as food was prohibited
19the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat.
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wə·’êṯ ha·ḥă·sî·ḏāh lə·mî·nāh wə·’eṯ- hā·’ă·nā·p̄āh had·dū·ḵî·p̄aṯ wə·’eṯ- hā·‘ă·ṭal·lêp̄
Literal — word-for-word from the original
and-the-stork, the-heron after-its-kind, and-the-hoopoe, and-the-bat.
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Moses begins his catalogue of birds with the noblest, and ends it with the vilest, which is the bat, an animal of a dubious kind, between a bird and a mouse.
a bird of benevolent temper and held in the highest estimation in all Eastern countries; it was declared unclean, probably, from its feeding on serpents and other venomous reptiles
The Heb. word means ‘pious’ or ‘merciful’ (referring to her tenderness towards her young).
20All flying insects that walk on all fours are detestable to you.
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kōl hā·‘ō·wp̄ še·reṣ ha·hō·lêḵ ‘al- ’ar·ba‘ še·qeṣ hū lā·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
All the-swarm of-the-fowl, the-one-walking upon four — a-detestable-thing it is to-you.
Where the English smooths the original
All fowls that crawl or creep upon the earth, and so degenerate from their proper nature, which is to fly, and are of a mongrel kind; which may intimate that apostates and mongrels in religion are abominable in the sight of GodPoole reads the crawling winged thing as a figure of religious double-mindedness — explicitly a homiletic application, not the law’s stated sense.
Better, all creeping things which have wings.
A.V. obscures for the English reader the identity of expression by rendering here ‘all fowls that creep,’ and in Deuteronomy 14:19 ‘every creeping thing that flieth.’
By "fowls" here are to be understood all creatures with wings and "going upon all fours," not a restriction to animals which have exactly four feet
21However, you may eat the following kinds of flying insects that walk on all fours: those having jointed legs above their feet for hopping on the ground.
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’aḵ ’eṯ- tō·ḵə·lū zeh mik·kōl hā·‘ō·wp̄ še·reṣ ha·hō·lêḵ ‘al- ’ar·ba‘ ’ă·šer- lō ḵə·rā·‘a·yim mim·ma·‘al lə·raḡ·lāw lə·nat·têr bā·hên ‘al- hā·’ā·reṣ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Only this you-may-eat of-all the-swarm of-the-fowl that-walks upon four: that-which-has jointed-legs above its-feet, to-leap with-them upon the-earth.
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The truth of this translation may seem evident, both from the following clause, to leap withal, and especially from the next verse, where one of this kind is the locusts , which, as it is manifest, have two legs wherewith they leap, besides the four feet upon which
Having laid down the general rule that those creatures which creep along upon their feet in the manner of quadrupeds, and which have also wings, must not be eaten, the Lawgiver now mentions those which form an exception.
The families of the Saltatoria, of which the common cricket, the common grasshopper, and the migratory locust, may be taken as types.
22Of these you may eat any kind of locust, katydid, cricket, or grasshopper.
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’eṯ- ’êl·leh mê·hem tō·ḵê·lū ’eṯ- lə·mî·nōw wə·’eṯ- hā·’ar·beh has·sā·lə·‘ām lə·mî·nê·hū wə·’eṯ- ha·ḥar·gōl lə·mî·nê·hū wə·’eṯ- he·ḥā·ḡāḇ lə·mî·nê·hū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
These of-them you-may-eat: the-locust after-its-kind, and-the-bald-locust after-its-kind, and-the-cricket after-its-kind, and-the-grasshopper after-its-kind.
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Locusts, though unusual in our food, were commonly eaten by the Ethiopians, Libyans, Parthians, and other eastern people bordering upon the JewsPoole grounds the locust-as-food in ancient testimony — the same diet Scripture assigns to John the Baptist (Matthew 3:4).
The name derived from רבה rabah, to multiply, imports a multitude, no animal being more prolific.
These were certain types of grasshoppers, which are not now properly known.
Most modern versions have taken a safer course than our translators, by retaining the Hebrew names.
23All other flying insects that have four legs are detestable to you.
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Hebrew — tap a word ↓
wə·ḵōl hā·‘ō·wp̄ še·reṣ ’ă·šer- lōw ’ar·ba‘ raḡ·lā·yim še·qeṣ hū lā·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
But-all-other swarm of-the-fowl that-has four feet — a-detestable-thing it is to-you.
Where the English smooths the original
Besides the above-named four species and their kindreds, all other locusts, as well as insects of any kind, are to be abhorred as food.
That is, which have not those legs above and beside their feet, mentioned Leviticus 11:21 .
These were not to be eaten, as they were all abominatioK&D’s raw note is truncated in the source at “abominatio[ns]”; the excerpt is given exactly as supplied.
24These creatures will make you unclean. Whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean until evening,
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ū·lə·’êl·leh tiṭ·ṭam·mā·’ū kāl- han·nō·ḡê·a‘ bə·niḇ·lā·ṯām yiṭ·mā ‘aḏ- hā·‘ā·reḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-by-these you-shall-make-yourselves-unclean; everyone touching their-carcass shall-be-unclean until the-evening.
Where the English smooths the original
Until the even; which possibly might signify that even the smallest defilements could not be cleansed but by the death of Christ, who was to come and offer up himself in the evening, or end, or decPoole reads the evening-limit typologically toward Christ’s evening sacrifice — offered explicitly as a possibility (“might signify”), not a certainty.
Rather, and by these ye shall be defiled, that is, the beasts and animals specified in Leviticus 11:26-27 .
If the due purification was omitted at the time, through negligence or forgetfulness, a sin-offering was required. See Leviticus 5:2 .
25and whoever picks up one of their carcasses must wash his clothes, and he will be unclean until evening.
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wə·ḵāl han·nō·śê min·niḇ·lā·ṯām yə·ḵab·bês bə·ḡā·ḏāw wə·ṭā·mê ‘aḏ- hā·‘ā·reḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-everyone bearing [aught] of-their-carcass shall-wash his-garments, and-shall-be-unclean until the-evening.
Where the English smooths the original
But he who removed the carcase out of the camp or city, or from one place to another, not only contracted defilement for the rest of the day, but had to wash the clothes which he had on, since the pollution by carrying is greater than that by touching.
Whosoever beareth, or, taketh away , out of the place where haply it may lie, by which others may be either offended or polluted.
26Every animal with hooves not completely divided or that does not chew the cud is unclean for you. Whoever touches any of them will be unclean.
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lə·ḵāl hab·bə·hê·māh ’ă·šer hî wə·še·sa‘ par·sāh ’ê·nen·nāh map̄·re·seṯ šō·sa·‘aṯ ’ê·nen·nāh ma·‘ă·lāh wə·ḡê·rāh ṭə·mê·’îm hêm lā·ḵem kāl- han·nō·ḡê·a‘ bā·hem yiṭ·mā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Every beast that parts the-hoof but-is-not cleaving a-cleft, or-the-cud it-does-not bring-up — unclean they-are for-you; everyone touching them shall-be-unclean.
Where the English smooths the original
They were prohibited from touching their dead bodies, but not their bodies when alive: for they used camels, horses, asses, &c., for necessary service
The construction of this text constituted one of the differences between the Pharisees and the Sadducees during the second Temple.Ellicott surfaces a real Second-Temple legal dispute over the verse’s syntax — evidence the text was weighed word by word.
The prohibited animals under this description include not only the beasts which have a single hoof, as horses and asses, but those also which divided the foot into paws, as lions, tigers, &c.
27All the four-footed animals that walk on their paws are unclean for you; whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean until evening,
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wə·ḵōl hō·w·lêḵ ‘al- ’ar·ba‘ ha·ḥay·yāh ha·hō·le·ḵeṯ ‘al- kap·pāw bə·ḵāl ṭə·mê·’îm hêm lā·ḵem kāl- han·nō·ḡê·a‘ bə·niḇ·lā·ṯām yiṭ·mā ‘aḏ- hā·‘ā·reḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-everything walking upon its-palms, among all the-living that-walk upon four — unclean they-are for-you; everyone touching their-carcass shall-be-unclean until the-evening.
Where the English smooths the original
Rather, and whatsoever goeth upon his palms, that is, those animals whose feet are not divided into two parts, but which have feet with fingers like a hand, such as the lion, the bear, the ape, the wolf, the cat, &c.
Hebrew, upon his hands; that is, which hath feet divided into several parts, like fingers, as dogs, cats, apes, lions, bears.
animals like the dog and cat whose feet are hand-like in form, having digits and claws.
28and anyone who picks up a carcass must wash his clothes, and he will be unclean until evening. They are unclean for you.
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wə·han·nō·śê ’eṯ- niḇ·lā·ṯām yə·ḵab·bês bə·ḡā·ḏāw wə·ṭā·mê ‘aḏ- hā·‘ā·reḇ hêm·māh ṭə·mê·’îm lā·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-one-bearing their-carcass shall-wash his-garments, and-shall-be-unclean until the-evening; unclean they-are for-you.
Where the English smooths the original
29The following creatures that move along the ground are unclean for you: the mole, the mouse, any kind of great lizard,
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wə·zeh baš·še·reṣ haš·šō·rêṣ ‘al- hā·’ā·reṣ haṭ·ṭā·mê lā·ḵem ha·ḥō·leḏ wə·hā·‘aḵ·bār lə·mî·nê·hū wə·haṣ·ṣāḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-this is-the-unclean for-you among-the-swarm that-swarms upon the-earth: the-weasel, and-the-mouse, and-the-great-lizard after-its-kind,
Where the English smooths the original
the Lawgiver now enumeratesExcerpt trimmed to Ellicott’s framing clause; his full note opens the eight-creature creeping-thing list.
The identification of "the creeping things" here named is not always certain. They are most likely those which were occasionally eaten.
From its diminutive size it is placed among the reptiles instead of the quadrupeds.
30the gecko, the monitor lizard, the common lizard, the skink, and the chameleon.
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wə·hā·’ă·nā·qāh wə·hak·kō·aḥ wə·hal·lə·ṭā·’āh wə·ha·ḥō·meṭ wə·hat·tin·šā·meṯ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
and-the-gecko, and-the-monitor-lizard, and-the-lizard, and-the-skink, and-the-chameleon.
Where the English smooths the original
an animal whose body is entirely covered with sharp prickles, and when touched the creature draws in its legs and rolls itself up in a ball.
It seems strange that so many kinds of lizards are mentioned; also that the same Heb. word should have two suCambridge’s note breaks off in the source mid-word (“two su[bjects]”); the excerpt is exactly as supplied, flagging the tinšemeṯ double-use.
the chameleon—called by the Arabs the warral, a green lizard.
31These animals are unclean for you among all the crawling creatures. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until evening.
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’êl·leh haṭ·ṭə·mê·’îm lā·ḵem bə·ḵāl haš·šā·reṣ kāl- han·nō·ḡê·a‘ bā·hem bə·mō·ṯām yiṭ·mā ‘aḏ- hā·‘ā·reḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
These are-the-unclean for-you among all the-swarm; everyone touching them in-their-death shall-be-unclean until the-evening.
Where the English smooths the original
The phrase, “whosoever doth touch them when they be dead,” is simply another expression for “whosoever touEllicott’s note is cut off in the source at “tou[ches their carcass]”; given verbatim as supplied.
These regulations must have often caused annoyance by suddenly requiring the exclusion of people from society, as well as the ordinances of religion. Nevertheless they were extremely useful and salutary
The words, "these are unclean to you among all swarming creatures," are neither to be understood as meaning, that the eight species mentioned were the only swarming animals that were unclean
32When one of them dies and falls on something, that article becomes unclean; any article of wood, clothing, leather, sackcloth, or any implement used for work must be rinsed with water and will remain unclean until evening; then it will be clean.
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wə·ḵōl ’ă·šer- bə·mō·ṯām yip·pōl- ‘ā·lāw mê·hem yiṭ·mā mik·kāl kə·lî- ‘êṣ ’ōw ḇe·ḡeḏ ’ōw- ‘ō·wr ’ōw śāq kāl- kə·lî ’ă·šer- yê·‘ā·śeh mə·lā·ḵāh bā·hem bam·ma·yim yū·ḇā wə·ṭā·mê ‘aḏ- hā·‘e·reḇ wə·ṭā·hêr
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-everything that-falls upon-it of-them in-their-death shall-be-unclean — every vessel of-wood, or-garment, or-skin, or-sackcloth, every vessel in-which work is-done — into-the-water it-must-be-put, and-shall-be-unclean until the-evening; then it-shall-be-clean.
Where the English smooths the original
The case of one of these small animals creeping into a pan or bag or garment, and being found dead, seems to be contemplated.
anything upon which one of these animals fell became unclean, "whether a vessel of wood, or raiment, or skin."
it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the even; so it shall be cleansed.
33If any of them falls into a clay pot, everything in it will be unclean; you must break the pot.
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mê·hem yip·pōl ’el- tō·w·ḵōw wə·ḵāl ḥe·reś ’ă·šer- kə·lî- kōl ’ă·šer bə·ṯō·w·ḵōw yiṭ·mā wə·’ō·ṯōw ṯiš·bō·rū
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-every earthen vessel into-which-falls of-them — everything that-is in-it shall-be-unclean, and-it you-shall-break.
Where the English smooths the original
Every earthen vessel, into which (lit., into the midst of which) one of them fell, became unclean, together with the whole of its contents, and was to be broken, i.e., destroyed, because the uncleanness as absorbed by the vessel, and could not be entirely removed by washing
if it only by falling touched the outside of it, it was not unclean; but if it fell into it, then whatever was contained in it
whatsoever is in it shall be unclean; and ye shall break it.
34Any food coming into contact with water from that pot will be unclean, and any drink in such a container will be unclean.
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mik·kāl yê·’ā·ḵêl ’ă·šer hā·’ō·ḵel ’ă·šer yā·ḇō·w ‘ā·lāw ma·yim yiṭ·mā wə·ḵāl yiš·šā·ṯeh maš·qeh ’ă·šer bə·ḵāl kə·lî yiṭ·mā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Of-all the-food that-may-be-eaten, that on-which water comes shall-be-unclean; and-all the-drink that-may-be-drunk in-every vessel shall-be-unclean.
Where the English smooths the original
the meaning is, that flesh or herbs, or other food which is dressed in water, to wit, in a vessel so polluted, shall be unclean; not so, if it be food which is eaten dry, as bread, fruits, &c., the reason of which difference seems to be this, that the water did sooner receive the pollut
Any food mixed with or put in water (for cooking or eating) and any drink into or upon which one of these swarming things has fallen is unclean.
That flesh, or herbs, or other food which is dressed in water, in a vessel so polluted, shall be unclean: not so, if it be food which is eaten dry, as bread, or fruits
35Anything upon which one of their carcasses falls will be unclean. If it is an oven or cooking pot, it must be smashed; it is unclean and will remain unclean for you.
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wə·ḵōl ’ă·šer- min·niḇ·lā·ṯām yip·pōl ‘ā·lāw yiṭ·mā tan·nūr wə·ḵî·ra·yim yut·tāṣ hêm ṭə·mê·’îm yih·yū ū·ṭə·mê·’îm lā·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-everything on-which falls of-their-carcass shall-be-unclean; oven or-cooking-pot it-shall-be-broken-down; unclean they-are, and-unclean they-shall-be for-you.
Where the English smooths the original
If the carcase of any swarming thing come in contact with an oven, of small cooking stove, the vessel becomes unclean and must be broken.
Every vessel also became unclean, upon which the body of such an animal fell
The word rendered "ranges for pots" has been conjectured to mean either an excavated fireplace, fitted to receive a pair of ovens, or a support like a pair of andirons.
36Nevertheless, a spring or cistern containing water will remain clean, but one who touches a carcass in it will be unclean.
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’aḵ ma‘·yān ū·ḇō·wr miq·wêh- ma·yim yih·yeh ṭā·hō·wr wə·nō·ḡê·a‘ bə·niḇ·lā·ṯām yiṭ·mā
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Nevertheless a-spring or-cistern, a-gathering of-waters, shall-be-clean; but-the-one-touching their-carcass shall-be-unclean.
Where the English smooths the original
Of this no reason can be given, but the will of the Lawgiver, and his merciful condescension to men’s necessities, water being scarce in those countries
Springs and wells were not defiled, because the uncleanness would be removed at once by the fresh supply of water. But whoever touched the body of the animal, to remove it, became unclean.
of which no solid reason can be given, whilst such unclean things remain in them, but only the will of the Lawgiver, and his merciful condescension to men’s necessities, water being scarce in those countries
37If a carcass falls on any seed for sowing, the seed is clean;
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wə·ḵî min·niḇ·lā·ṯām yip·pōl ‘al- kāl- ze·ra‘ zê·rū·a‘ ’ă·šer yiz·zā·rê·a‘ hū ṭā·hō·wr
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-if-falls of-their-carcass upon any seed for-sowing that-is-to-be-sown — clean it is.
Where the English smooths the original
Partly because this was necessary provision for man; and partly because such seed would not be used for man’s food till it had received many alterations in the earth, whereby such pollution was taken away. See John 12:24 1 Corinthians 15:36 .Poole links the clean dry seed to the dying-and-rising grain of John 12:24 and 1 Corinthians 15:36 — a typological reach he flags by citation, not assertion.
All seed-corn that was intended to be sown remained clean, namely, because the uncleanness attaching to it externally would be absorbed by the earth.
For the seed which is to be sown, contact with swarming things may be disregarded; but if water be added (i.e. if it is put with water in a vessel for cooking), uncleanness will ensue.
38but if water has been put on the seed and a carcass falls on it, it is unclean for you.
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wə·ḵî ma·yim yut·tan- ‘al- ze·ra‘ min·niḇ·lā·ṯām wə·nā·p̄al ‘ā·lāw hū ṭā·mê lā·ḵem
Literal — word-for-word from the original
But-if water is-put upon the-seed, and-falls of-their-carcass upon-it — unclean it is for-you.
Where the English smooths the original
But if water had been put upon the seed, i.e., if the grain had been softened by water, it was to be unclean, because in that case the uncleanness would penetrate the sofK&D’s note ends mid-word in the source at “the sof[t mass]”; given exactly as supplied.
The case, however, is different when the grain is moistened, because the fluid softens the corn, and thus enables the defilement of the carcase to penetrate into its very fibres.
He speaks of seed that is laid to sleep before it is sown.
39If an animal that you may eat dies, anyone who touches the carcass will be unclean until evening.
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wə·ḵî min- hab·bə·hê·māh ’ă·šer- hî lā·ḵem lə·’āḵ·lāh yā·mūṯ han·nō·ḡê·a‘ bə·niḇ·lā·ṯāh yiṭ·mā ‘aḏ- hā·‘ā·reḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-if dies any-of-the-beast which is-yours to-eat, the-one-touching its-carcass shall-be-unclean until the-evening.
Where the English smooths the original
either of itself, or being killed by some wild beast, in which cases the blood was not poured forth, as it was when they were killed by men either for food or sacrifice.
contact with edible animals, if they had not been slaughtered, but had died a natural death, and had become carrion in consequence, is also said to defile
The loathsomeness of the bodies of even clean animals that have died a natural death, makes them also the means of conveying defilement to any one who touches them.
40Whoever eats from the carcass must wash his clothes and will be unclean until evening, and anyone who picks up the carcass must wash his clothes and will be unclean until evening.
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wə·hā·’ō·ḵêl min·niḇ·lā·ṯāh yə·ḵab·bês bə·ḡā·ḏāw wə·ṭā·mê ‘aḏ- hā·‘ā·reḇ wə·han·nō·śê ’eṯ- niḇ·lā·ṯāh yə·ḵab·bês bə·ḡā·ḏāw wə·ṭā·mê ‘aḏ- hā·‘ā·reḇ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-the-one-eating of-its-carcass shall-wash his-garments and-be-unclean until the-evening; and-the-one-bearing its-carcass shall-wash his-garments and-be-unclean until the-evening.
Where the English smooths the original
to wit, unwittingly; for if he did it knowingly, it was a presumptuous sin against an express law, Deu 14:21 , and therefore punished with cutting off, Numbers 15:30 .
That is, ignorantly, since for wilful transgression the transgressor incurred the penalty of excision.
Eating the carcase is forbidden as in Deuteronomy 14:21 . According to Leviticus 17:15 , the eater must also bathe himself.
41Every creature that moves along the ground is detestable; it must not be eaten.
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wə·ḵāl haš·še·reṣ haš·šō·rêṣ ‘al- hā·’ā·reṣ še·qeṣ hū lō yê·’ā·ḵêl
Literal — word-for-word from the original
And-every swarm that-swarms upon the-earth — a-detestable-thing it is; it-shall-not be-eaten.
Where the English smooths the original
swarming thing that swarmeth
all other creeping things upon the earth, with the exception of those specified in Leviticus 11:21-22 , are to be treated as an abomination, and must not be eaten
The last class is that of vermin, which constitute a part of the un-winged creeping class already spoken of
42Do not eat any creature that moves along the ground, whether it crawls on its belly or walks on four or more feet; for such creatures are detestable.
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lō ṯō·ḵə·lūm haš·še·reṣ haš·šō·rêṣ ‘al- hā·’ā·reṣ kōl hō·w·lêḵ ‘al- gå̄·ḥōn wə·ḵōl hō·w·lêḵ ‘al- ’ar·ba‘ ‘aḏ kāl- mar·bêh raḡ·la·yim lə·ḵāl kî- hêm še·qeṣ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Everything walking upon the-belly, and-everything walking upon four, up-to everything multiplying feet, among-all the-swarm that-swarms upon the-earth — you-shall-not eat them, for a-detestable-thing they-are.
Where the English smooths the original
to go upon the belly is the curse denounced upon it, Genesis 3:14 this and every such creature are forbidden to be eatenGill connects the belly-crawler of v. 42 to the serpent’s curse in Genesis 3:14 — the verbal link rests on the rare word gāḥôn, shared by both verses.
all footless reptiles, and mollusks, snakes of all kinds, snails, slugs, and worms.
Upon the belly, as worms and snakes. Upon all four as toads and divers serpents. More feet, to wit, more than four, as caterpillars, &c.
43Do not defile yourselves by any crawling creature; do not become unclean or defiled by them.
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’al- tə·šaq·qə·ṣū ’eṯ- nap̄·šō·ṯê·ḵem bə·ḵāl haš·še·reṣ haš·šō·rêṣ wə·lō ṯiṭ·ṭam·mə·’ū bā·hem wə·niṭ·mê·ṯem bām
Literal — word-for-word from the original
Do-not make-detestable your-souls by-any swarm that-swarms; and-do-not make-yourselves-unclean by-them, lest you-be-defiled by-them.
Where the English smooths the original
With any creeping thing that flies in the air, excepting the four sorts of locusts, Leviticus 11:22 and with any creeping thing in the waters, Leviticus 11:10 or with anything that creeps on the land, by eating any of them
By eating the unclean creatures which are constantly characterised in this book as “abominable”Ellicott notes the rare term for self-defilement here recurs only in Isaiah 66:17 and Ezekiel — tying the chapter’s close to the prophets’ swine-eaters.
44For I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any creature that crawls along the ground.
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kî ’ă·nî Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·hê·ḵem wə·hiṯ·qad·diš·tem wih·yî·ṯem qə·ḏō·šîm kî ’ā·nî qā·ḏō·wōš wə·lō ṯə·ṭam·mə·’ū ’eṯ- nap̄·šō·ṯê·ḵem bə·ḵāl haš·še·reṣ hā·rō·mêś ‘al- hā·’ā·reṣ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
For I am-YHWH your-God; you-shall-consecrate yourselves and-be holy, for holy am-I; and-you-shall-not-defile your-souls by-any swarm that-crawls upon the-earth.
Where the English smooths the original
As the Lord who is their God is Himself holy, His people, in order to enjoy perfect communion with Him, must also be holy. Hence they must abstain from all these objects of defilement which mar that holy communion.Ellicott names the citation: Peter’s “Be ye holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15–16) quotes this very verse — an explicit NT use of the Levitical ground.
all these cautions about eating or touching these creatures was not for any real uncleanness in them, but only that by the diligent observation of these rules they might learn with greater care to avoid all moral pollutions
The basis of the obligation to maintain the distinction was the call of the Hebrews to be the special people of Yahweh.
For the Lord hath redeemed and called his people, that they may be holy, even as he is holy. We must come out, and be separate from the worldHenry's chapter-wide note lands its conclusion on this verse: holiness is the redeemed end of the call, and the diet's separation a figure of the believer's separation from the world.
45For I am the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt so that I would be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.
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kî ’ă·nî Yah·weh ham·ma·‘ă·leh ’eṯ·ḵem mê·’e·reṣ miṣ·ra·yim lih·yōṯ lā·ḵem lê·lō·hîm wih·yî·ṯem qə·ḏō·šîm kî ’ā·nî qā·ḏō·wōš
Literal — word-for-word from the original
For I am-YHWH who-brought-you-up from-the-land of-Egypt, to-be for-you a-God; and-you-shall-be holy, for holy am-I.
Where the English smooths the original
This was a reason why they should cheerfully submit to distinguishing laws, who had been so honoured with distinguishing favours.
the Holy One of Israel had a special claim upon His redeemed people that they should obey His laws and keep themselves holy as their Redeemer.
These verses set forth the spiritual ground on which the distinction between clean and unclean is based.Barnes points to the marginal chain Leviticus 20:25–26 and 1 Peter 1:15–16 — the holiness formula carried straight into the New Testament.
46This is the law regarding animals, birds, all living creatures that move in the water, and all creatures that crawl along the ground.
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zōṯ tō·w·raṯ hab·bə·hê·māh wə·hā·‘ō·wp̄ wə·ḵōl ha·ḥay·yāh ne·p̄eš hā·rō·me·śeṯ bam·mā·yim ū·lə·ḵāl- ne·p̄eš haš·šō·re·ṣeṯ ‘al- hā·’ā·reṣ
Literal — word-for-word from the original
This is-the-law of-the-beast and-the-bird, and-every living soul that-moves in-the-waters, and-for-every soul that-swarms upon the-earth,
Where the English smooths the original
It was to them a statute as long as that dispensation lasted, but under the gospel we find it expressly repealed, by a voice from heaven to Peter, ( Acts 10:15 ,) as it had before been virtually set aside by the death of ChristBenson states the chapter’s own redemptive-historical horizon: binding for its dispensation, then abrogated by the vision to Peter (Acts 10:15) and the death of Christ. The provenance is explicit NT citation.
This is a recapitulation of the different classes of animals proscribed in the dietary laws.
Summary. It refers only to the rules about eating, and so makes no reference to Leviticus 11:24-30 .
47You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between animals that may be eaten and those that may not.’”
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
lə·haḇ·dîl bên haṭ·ṭā·mê haṭ·ṭā·hōr ū·ḇên ū·ḇên ha·ḥay·yāh han·ne·’ĕ·ḵe·leṯ ū·ḇên ha·ḥay·yāh ’ă·šer lō ṯê·’ā·ḵêl
Literal — word-for-word from the original
to-distinguish between the-unclean and-the-clean, and-between the-living-thing that-may-be-eaten and-the-living-thing that may-not be-eaten.
Where the English smooths the original
Better, that ye may put difference, as the Authorised Version renders the same word in Leviticus 10:10 . That is, the design of the dietary law is to enable both the administrators of the law and the people to distinguish
make a difference between the unclean and the clean—that is, between animals used and not used for food. It is probable that the laws contained in this chapter were not entirely new, but only gave the sanction of divine enactment to ancient usages.
Whether of beasts, fish, fowl, and flying creeping things: and between the beast that may be eaten, and the beast that may not be eaten; the former clause takes in all in general, this instances in a particular sort of creatures
The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.
AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.
The chapter does not open with a hoof or a fin. It opens with a Name: “And-spoke YHWH” (וַיְדַבֵּר יְהוָה). Whatever else the laws of clean and unclean are — and the commentators below will press hygiene, separation, and symbolism — they are first of all speech of the LORD, and the Name standing at the head forbids us to reduce them to a desert health code. The address is also, unusually, joint: “to Moses and-to Aaron”, the doubled preposition אֶל… וְאֶל binding lawgiver and priest as co-ordinate recipients. Ellicott reads a pastoral motive — the LORD “here honours Aaron, as well as Moses, by making this communication to them conjointly”, lest the priest’s recent public rebuke (Leviticus 10:16) diminish his standing before the people he must teach. Benson divides the office cleanly: the charge is given “to the one, as chief governor, and to the other, as high-priest.” Barnes presses the point of rank: “The high priest, in regard to the legal purifications, is treated as co-ordinate with the legislator.” The law that will sort all creation begins by joining the throne and the altar.
The land-law is built on two visible signs — the cloven hoof (שֶׁסַע פַּרְסָה) and the raised cud (מַעֲלַת גֵּרָה) — and Benson insists they are signs only: “These qualities are not assigned as reasons why such animals are proper for food, but merely as marks whereby to distinguish them.” What is striking is how the law teaches by its exceptions. Camel, rock badger, hare, swine each meet one criterion and fail the other, and the fourfold refrain “unclean for you” (טָמֵא לָכֶם) drills the lesson that one mark is never enough. The Hebrew is scrupulously fair to the swine: it grants the full hoof-test — מַפְרִיס וְשֹׁסַע, “parting and cleaving” — before disqualifying it on the cud. Yet around that fair word a whole history of revulsion gathered. Ellicott records that the swine “became the symbol of defilement and the badge of insult”, and Cambridge that “to eat pork was by them regarded as abjuring their religion” under Antiochus Epiphanes. The Pulpit Commentary cuts against over-rationalizing: the ban “does not arise from the fear of trichinosis … but from the disgust caused by the carnivorous and filthy habits of the Eastern pig.” Poole catches the deepest reach of the symbolism in the two marks themselves — the dividing of the word aright, and the recalling of God’s word to our minds — though he names it, honestly, as what “interpreters guess.”
Each domain gets its own grammar. The waters are sorted by one paired sign, fins-and-scales (סְנַפִּיר וְקַשְׂקֶשֶׂת), and Poole notices a quiet echo of Eden in the absence of fish-names: “the fishes not being brought to Adam and named by him as other creatures were.” The birds break the pattern entirely — no criteria, only a roll-call of the proscribed — and here the synthesis must be most honest. Poole, looking at the untranslatable list, hears providence in the very obscurity: “The true signification of these … is now lost, as the Jews at this day confess, which … may intimate the cessation or abolition of this law.” The names drift even within the chapter: תִּנְשֶׁמֶת is a bird in verse 18 and a lizard in verse 30; Cambridge frankly calls it “strange.” Through it all runs the Genesis refrain לְמִינֵהוּ, “after its kind” — the food-law folded back into the taxonomy of the sixth day. The one bright exception is the leaping locust (vv. 21–22), whose jointed legs are the insect-world’s cloven hoof — and which, Poole reminds us, fed the wilderness prophet who came before the Messiah.
At verse 24 the chapter turns from the table to the touch, and the keyword becomes נְבֵלָה, carcass — for it is death, not species, that now defiles. The reflexive verb is exact: “by these you make yourselves unclean” (תִּטַּמָּאוּ). And the remedy is woven with mercy. Defilement is dated — “until the evening” (עַד־הָעָרֶב) — and Poole hears in the sundown-limit a possibility he offers cautiously: that the smallest defilements “could not be cleansed but by the death of Christ, who was to come and offer up himself in the evening.” The law descends into the kitchen: pots, cloth, leather, sacking, the oven and the stove. Porous clay must be broken (v. 33), “because the uncleanness was absorbed by the vessel, and could not be entirely removed by washing” (Keil) — but living water cannot be defiled at all. Of the clean spring Benson confesses “no reason can be given, but the will of the Lawgiver, and his merciful condescension to men’s necessities, water being scarce in those countries.” The dry seed, too, is spared, and Poole reaches for the gospel: it is bound for the ground, and “See John 12:24.” The deepest logic surfaces at verse 39: even a clean animal that dies of itself becomes carrion and defiles. The root impurity the whole system circles is not any beast — it is unbled, undealt-with death.
Only at the end is the reason given, and it is not biology. The serpent’s curse surfaces first — the belly-crawler of verse 42 walks עַל־גָּחוֹן, the rare word of Genesis 3:14, and Gill names it: “to go upon the belly is the curse denounced upon it, Genesis 3:14.” Then the warning turns inward: do not make your souls (נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם) detestable. And the ground of it all is laid bare in the threefold drumbeat of קדשׁ: “consecrate yourselves and be holy, for holy am I.” Ellicott names the citation that the New Testament makes of this very verse: “Be ye holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15–16). Benson sees that the rules “were not for any real uncleanness in them … but only that by the diligent observation of these rules they might learn … to avoid all moral pollutions.” The grounding then deepens from creation to redemption — “I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt” — and Benson draws the logic of grace: “This was a reason why they should cheerfully submit to distinguishing laws, who had been so honoured with distinguishing favours.” The last word is the purpose-word, לְהַבְדִּיל, “to divide” — the verb of Genesis 1 and of the priest’s charge in Leviticus 10:10. The man who eats by this law rehearses, at his own table, the discernment by which God ordered the world. And Benson sets its horizon already in view: the statute was binding “as long as that dispensation lasted, but under the gospel … expressly repealed, by a voice from heaven to Peter (Acts 10:15).”
Read under the rule that Scripture alone is the final authority, four things stand out in Leviticus 11 — offered as a reading to be tested, not a verdict to be trusted (⚙). First, the law interprets itself, and points past itself. The chapter calls itself tôrāh (v. 46), instruction; and the same canon that issued it records its own abrogation — the voice to Peter “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common” (Acts 10:15), the Lord declaring all foods clean (Mark 7:19), the apostolic verdict that “nothing is unclean of itself” (Romans 14:14). Scripture, not later custom, both binds and looses the diet. Second, the reason is theological, not dietetic. The closing verses tether the whole catalogue not to health but to one sentence — “be holy, for I am holy” (v. 44) — quoted forward without alteration by Peter (1 Peter 1:16). The hooves and fins were always a daily, edible catechism in belonging to a holy God. Third, the deepest defilement is death. Even the clean ox, dead of itself, becomes carrion and defiles (v. 39); the carcass, not the creature, is the contaminant — and the New Testament will locate the cure precisely there, in a death that defiles the grave rather than the mourner. Fourth, the law trains discernment. Its last word, לְהַבְדִּיל (v. 47), is God’s own creation-verb: to divide. Where the commentators reach for hygiene (JFB) or moral allegory (Poole, Gill), the text’s own stated ground is holiness and separation-unto-God. That is the reading I would stake; the rest I hold loosely, as the chapter holds its own untranslatable bird-names.
The chapter sorts hooves and fins so that a people might learn, at their own table, the holy art of telling apart — and then Scripture itself declares the lesson learned and the boundary fulfilled.
AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.
The dietary law is given twice in the Torah, and the two passages share not merely a theme but rare, specific words. The Verifier records the shared lexemes for the beast-rule: sheça‘ (שֶׁסַע, H8157, in only 4 verses), shāça‘ (H8156, in 8), gêrāh (cud, H1625, in 9), pāraç (H6536, in 12) — a cluster of scarce terms that cannot co-occur by accident. The fish-rule shares the still rarer çᵉnappîr (fin, H5579, in 5 verses) and qaśqeśeṯ (scale, H7193, in 7). Cambridge confirms the relation from the literary side: the lists “have close verbal affinity,” with “Lev. more diffuse, but employs the same expressions as Deut.” Where Leviticus elaborates, Deuteronomy abridges; both name the same four borderline beasts and the same marks. This is the firmest cross-reference in the unit.
Deuteronomy 14:6 · Deuteronomy 14:7 · Deuteronomy 14:8 · Deuteronomy 14:9 · Leviticus 11:3 · Leviticus 11:7
basis: rare shared lexemes (Verifier): H8157 sheça‘ (4 vv), H8156 shâça‘ (8 vv), H1625 gêrâh (9 vv), H6536 pâraç (12 vv); fish-rule H5579 çᵉnappîr (5 vv), H7193 qasqeseth (7 vv)
The word for swine, ḥăzîr (חֲזִיר, H2386), occurs only seven times in the Hebrew Bible — rare enough that its reappearance carries weight. The Verifier links Leviticus 11:7 to Isaiah 66:17 on this very lexeme together with śeqeṣ (detestable thing) and bāśār (flesh): Isaiah condemns those “eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse.” The prophet weaponizes the precise vocabulary of Leviticus 11 — swine, mouse, abomination — to indict a people who have inverted the chapter’s whole purpose. Cambridge notes the same connection at verse 7, listing Isaiah 65:4 and 66:17 as evidence that the swine was an object of forbidden cult. The dietary boundary, breached, becomes in Isaiah the very image of apostasy under judgment.
Isaiah 66:17 · Leviticus 11:7
basis: rare shared lexeme (Verifier): H2386 chăzîyr (swine, 7 vv), with H8263 sheqets and H1320 bâsâr — Isaiah quarries Lev 11's swine-and-abomination vocabulary
The first creature on the unclean-swarmer list (v. 42) is defined by its locomotion: “whatever walks upon the belly” — גָּחוֹן (gāḥôn, H1512), a rare word whose other signal occurrence is the curse on the serpent, “upon your belly you shall go” (Genesis 3:14). Gill makes the link explicit at verse 42: “to go upon the belly is the curse denounced upon it, Genesis 3:14.” The belly-crawler heads the abomination-list not by zoological accident but by theological resonance: the mode of movement God assigned to the serpent in Eden becomes, in the dietary law, the mark of the most detestable creature. The link rests on the shared rare lexeme gāḥôn; it is a verbal echo within the Hebrew canon.
Genesis 3:14 · Leviticus 11:42
basis: rare shared lexeme H1512 gāḥôn (“belly”) — occurs in Gen 3:14 (serpent’s curse) and Lev 11:42; Gill (1746–63) names the connection verbatim
The chapter’s governing keyword, šereṣ (שֶׁרֶץ, H8318, “swarm / teeming thing”), is the noun of the fifth day, when God said “let the waters swarm with swarms of living souls” (Genesis 1:20). The Verifier links Leviticus 11:10 to Genesis 1:20 on šereṣ together with ‘ôp̄ (fowl), ḥay (living), mayim (waters), and nepheš (soul). The dietary law borrows creation’s own vocabulary: the creatures it sorts are the very swarms and living souls God called forth in Genesis 1, now arranged by the LORD into clean and unclean. Because the shared words include common terms alongside šereṣ, this is best read as a structural and thematic tie — the food-law as a re-ordering of the created kinds — rather than a quotation.
Genesis 1:20 · Leviticus 11:10 · Leviticus 11:41
basis: shared lexemes (Verifier): H8318 sherets (swarm, 15 vv), H5775 ‘ôwph, H2416 chay, H4325 mayim, H5315 nephesh — Lev 11 re-sorts the swarming “living souls” of the fifth day
The chapter ends on the verb bāḏal (הַבְדִּיל, H914, “to divide / separate”) — God’s own creation-verb, by which He divided light from darkness and waters from waters (Genesis 1), and the priest’s charge in Leviticus 10:10 “to put difference between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean.” The Verifier links Leviticus 11:47 to Leviticus 20:25 on bāḏal together with the paired status-words ṭāmê’ (unclean, H2931) and ṭāhôr (clean, H2889). Ellicott marks the tie to Leviticus 10:10 directly: it is “the same word.” The dietary law is thus framed as priestly, creational discernment — the people taught to perform, at the table, the act of separation that orders both the cosmos and the sanctuary.
Leviticus 11:47 · Leviticus 10:10 · Leviticus 20:25
basis: shared lexemes (Verifier, Lev 11:47 ↔ 20:25): H914 bâdal (divide, 40 vv), H2931 ṭâmêʼ, H2889 ṭâhôwr — the same separation-verb as Gen 1 and Lev 10:10
Touching the carcass of an unclean creature is named a defilement requiring expiation: the Verifier links Leviticus 11 to Leviticus 5:2 on bᵉhêmāh (beast, H929) and ṭāmê’ (unclean, H2931), and Barnes makes the cross-reference at verse 24: “If the due purification was omitted at the time, through negligence or forgetfulness, a sin-offering was required. See Leviticus 5:2.” The same internal logic governs the broken clay pot of verse 33, which Keil ties to Leviticus 6:28. These are intra-Levitical structural links: the purity system of chapter 11 is wired into the sacrificial system of chapters 4–6, so that contracted uncleanness has an appointed remedy. The connection is thematic and verbal within Leviticus, not a quotation.
Leviticus 5:2 · Leviticus 11:24 · Leviticus 7:21
basis: shared lexemes (Verifier): H929 bᵉhêmâh, H2931 ṭâmêʼ — Lev 11’s contracted defilement is remedied by the sin-offering of Lev 5:2; Barnes (1834) names the link
The theological summit of the chapter, “be holy, for I am holy” (vv. 44–45), is quoted directly by the apostle Peter: “Be ye holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). Ellicott names the citation at verse 44, and Barnes points to the marginal chain through Leviticus 20:25–26. This is an explicit New-Testament quotation of the Levitical ground — yet because it crosses from Hebrew to Greek, the Verifier finds no shared original-language lexeme in the index and returns “flagged — verify source.” That is the honest status: the connection is real and apostolically asserted, but it cannot be confirmed by shared Strong’s numbers (the languages differ), so it is argued from the NT citation itself, not from lexical overlap. It is tiered structural, never verbal, for exactly that reason.
Leviticus 11:44 · Leviticus 11:45 · 1 Peter 1:16
basis: cross-Testament (Hebrew↔Greek): Verifier finds no shared Strong’s lexeme — cannot be “verbal.” The link is an explicit NT quotation (1 Pet 1:16 cites Lev 11:44–45), argued from the citation, not from lexical overlap
AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.
The chapter’s own canon declares its fulfillment. Benson states it plainly at verse 46: the statute was binding “as long as that dispensation lasted, but under the gospel we find it expressly repealed, by a voice from heaven to Peter (Acts 10:15), as it had before been virtually set aside by the death of Christ.” In the sheet let down at Joppa, every unclean beast, bird, and creeping thing of Leviticus 11 is shown to Peter, and the voice commands him to kill and eat — “What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.” Mark records the Lord’s own word behind it: He declared all foods clean (Mark 7:19). The boundary the dietary law drew between clean and unclean was always a teaching-line, and in Christ it is fulfilled and opened: the wall it built between Jew and Gentile (which Poole foresaw at verse 11 falling “when the partition-wall … was taken away. See Ac 10.”) is taken down in the body that absorbs all defilement and is not defiled. This reading is ancient and apostolic, not novel — it is the New Testament’s own.
Leviticus 11:46 · Acts 10:14 · Mark 7:19
Among the chapter’s exceptions of mercy, the dry seed bound for sowing cannot be defiled (v. 37) — and Poole, reaching for the reason, lands on the gospel: such seed undergoes “many alterations in the earth, whereby such pollution was taken away. See John 12:24 1 Corinthians 15:36.” The grain that “falls into the ground and dies” and so bears much fruit is the Lord’s own figure for His burial and resurrection. The seed that death cannot defile, because it is destined to be buried and to rise, becomes a quiet type of the One whose body saw no corruption in the grave. The connection is figural and is offered by the commentator himself as a Scripture-cited reach (he names John 12:24), not a verbal link; we mark it as a typological reading, attested in the tradition but interpretive.
Leviticus 11:37 · John 12:24
The deepest discovery of the chapter’s second half is that the contaminant is death itself: the carcass defiles, and even a clean animal that dies of itself becomes nᵉḇêlāh and pollutes (v. 39). Poole hears at verse 24, in the “until the evening” that ends each defilement, a foreshadow he offers cautiously: that even the least uncleanness “could not be cleansed but by the death of Christ, who was to come and offer up himself in the evening.” The whole Levitical horror of carrion-contact points beyond itself to the One who touched the dead and was not defiled but cleansed them, and who by dying destroyed “him that had the power of death” (Hebrews 2:14; 9:14). Where the law could only quarantine death and wait for sundown, the cross meets death and ends it. This is a typological and redemptive-historical reading; Poole flags it as possibility (“might signify”), and so do we — ancient in instinct, but an interpretive reach, not a stated equation.
Leviticus 11:24 · Leviticus 11:39
The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.
Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:
Honesty notes specific to Leviticus 11 (⚙ machine layer; the ✦ voices below are verbatim public-domain).
1. The bird- and lizard-names are genuinely uncertain. This is the single largest honesty issue in the chapter. Poole states that “the true signification of these … Hebrew words is now lost, as the Jews at this day confess”; Cambridge and Keil & Delitzsch debate eagle vs. griffon-vulture, owl vs. ostrich, and admit “it is still undecided how they should be rendered.” The clearest internal proof is that תִּנְשֶׁמֶת (tinšemeṯ) names a bird in v. 18 and a lizard in v. 30. The literal renderings above therefore follow the BSB’s identifications as reasonable reconstructions, not decoded certainties, and the divergence-notes flag the disputed cases by name. No synthesis claim rests on a contested bird-name.
2. “Chews the cud” is phenomenal, not anatomical. The hare and rock badger do not truly ruminate; the camel and swine are, anatomically, more complex than the text’s categories. The commentators (Pulpit, Cambridge, JFB, Barnes) uniformly read the law as speaking in popular language — Moses “as a legislator, not as an anatomist.” The notes adopt this framing rather than treating the descriptions as scientific error.
3. The cross-references were computed, then tiered conservatively. Every Hebrew↔Hebrew thread badge cites the Verifier’s shared Strong’s lexemes as its recorded basis, with rare lexemes (e.g. sheça‘ in 4 vv, çᵉnappîr in 5, ḥăzîr in 7, gāḥôn) tiered verbal/quotation—confirmed, and links resting partly on common words (the Genesis-1 swarm; the bāḏal separation-verb) downgraded to structural/thematic. The cross-Testament link (Lev 11:44–45 → 1 Peter 1:16) is flagged — verify source: it is an explicit and well-attested NT quotation, but because Hebrew and Greek share no Strong’s numbers, the Verifier returns no lexical basis, and the link is argued from the citation itself, never tiered “verbal.” The Christ-section readings (Acts 10/Mark 7, John 12:24, the death-defilement type) are marked by attestation: the Acts 10 abrogation is ancient/widely-held (the NT’s own); the seed and death-as-defilement types are marked novel — interpretive reaches that the public-domain voices themselves offered as possibilities (“might signify,” “See John 12:24”), reproduced here as such.
4. The competing rationales are reported, not adjudicated. JFB leans hardest on hygiene and national separation; Poole and Gill reach for moral allegory; Benson balances all of these. The grand commentary and sola reading argue that the chapter’s own stated ground is holiness (vv. 44–45) and discernment (v. 47), and hold the hygienic and allegorical rationales as secondary and human — the synthesis’s fallible judgment, marked ⚙, and open to correction.
✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)