Animals That May Be Eaten

(Deuteronomy 14.3-21)

1The Lord gave Moses and Aaron the following regulations 2for the people of Israel. You may eat any land animal 3that has divided hoofs and that also chews the cud, 4-6but you must not eat camels, rock badgers, or rabbits. These must be considered unclean; they chew the cud, but do not have divided hoofs. 7Do not eat pigs. They must be considered unclean; they have divided hoofs, but do not chew the cud. 8Do not eat these animals or even touch their dead bodies; they are unclean.

9You may eat any kind of fish that has fins and scales, 10but anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales must not be eaten. 11Such creatures must be considered unclean. You must not eat them or even touch their dead bodies. 12You must not eat anything that lives in the water and does not have fins and scales.

13-19You must not eat any of the following birds: eagles, owls, hawks, falcons; buzzards, vultures, crows; ostriches; seagulls, storks, herons, pelicans, cormorants;+ hoopoes; or bats.

20All winged insects are unclean, 21except those that hop. 22You may eat locusts, crickets, or grasshoppers. 23But all other small things that have wings and also crawl must be considered unclean.

24-28If you touch the dead bodies of the following animals, you will be unclean until evening: all animals with hoofs, unless their hoofs are divided and they chew the cud, and all four-footed animals with paws. If you carry their dead bodies, you must wash your clothes, but you will still be unclean until evening.

29-30Moles, rats, mice, and lizards must be considered unclean. 31Whoever touches them or their dead bodies will be unclean until evening. 32And if their dead bodies fall on anything, it will be unclean. This applies to any article of wood, cloth, leather, or sacking, no matter what it is used for. It shall be dipped in water, but it will remain unclean until evening. 33And if their bodies fall into a clay pot, everything that is in it shall be unclean, and you must break the pot. 34Any food which could normally be eaten, but on which water from such a pot has been poured, will be unclean, and anything drinkable in such a pot is unclean. 35Anything on which the dead bodies fall is unclean; a clay stove or oven shall be broken, 36but a spring or a cistern remains clean, although anything else that touches their dead bodies is unclean. 37If one of them falls on seed that is going to be planted, the seed remains clean. 38But if the seed is soaking in water and one of them falls on it, the seed is unclean.

39If any animal that may be eaten dies, anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening. 40And if any of you eat any part of the animal, you must wash your clothes, but you will still be unclean until evening; any of you who carry the dead body must wash your clothes, but you will still be unclean until evening.

41You must not eat any of the small animals that move on the ground, 42whether they crawl, or walk on four legs, or have many legs. 43Do not make yourselves unclean by eating any of these. 44 I am the Lord your God, and you must keep yourselves holy, because I am holy. 45I am the Lord who brought you out of Egypt so that I could be your God. You must be holy, because I am holy.

46This, then, is the law about animals and birds, about everything that lives in the water, and everything that moves on the ground. 47You must be careful to distinguish between what is ritually clean and unclean, between animals that may be eaten and those that may not.