Clean and Unclean Animals

(Deuteronomy 14:3-21)

1The LORD told Moses and Aaron,a 2“Tell the Israelis that these are the living creatures that you may eat among the animals of the earth: 3You may eat any animal that has divided hooves with cloven feet and that ruminates its cud, 4except you are not to eat the following animals that have divided hooves or ruminate their cud: the camel (because it chews the cud but doesn’t have divided hooves, it is to be unclean for you), 5the rock badger (because it chews its cud but its hooves aren’t divided, it is to be unclean for you), 6the hare (because it chews its cud, but its hooves aren’t divided, it is to be unclean for you), 7and the pig (because it has divided hooves and is therefore cloven-footed, but it doesn’t ruminate its cud, it is to be unclean for you). 8You are not to eat their flesh or even touch their carcasses. They are to be unclean for you.”

Clean and Unclean Seafood

9“You may eat anything that lives in the water—that is, you may eat anything that has fins and scales either from the seas or from the rivers. 10But anything that doesn’t have fins or scales—whether from the seas or the rivers—any of the swarming creatures and living creatures in the waters are detestable for you. 11They are to remain detestable for you. You are not to eat of their meat and you are to detest their carcasses. 12Anything that doesn’t have fins or scales in the waters is a detestable thing for you.”

Clean and Unclean Winged Creatures

13“These are detestable things for you among winged creatures that you are not to eat, because they are detestable for you: the eagle, vulture, osprey, 14 red kite, falcons of any kind, 15every kind of raven, 16ostrich, nighthawk, seagull, hawks of every kind, 17owls, cormorants, the ibis, 18water-hens, pelicans, carrion, 19storks, herons of every kind, the hoopoe, bata, 20and any winged insect that crawls on four legs is detestable for you. 21However, you may eat winged creatures that crawl on four legs that extend over its head and by which it hops on the ground. 22These creatures that you may eat include the locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, and the grasshopper of any kind. 23But any other winged insect that has four legs is detestable for you 24and is unclean. Anyone who touches their carcasses becomes unclean until evening. 25And anyone who carries their carcasses is to wash his clothes, since he will remain unclean until evening.”

Summary of Clean and Unclean

26“Any animal that has divided hooves and is cloven-footed but doesn’t chew the cud is unclean for you. Anyone who touches them is unclean. 27Among the animals, anything that walks on their paws and on four legs is unclean for you. Anyone who touches their carcasses becomes unclean until evening. 28Whoever carries their carcass is to wash their clothes, because they’ve become unclean until evening. They’re unclean for you.

29“These are unclean for you among the swarming creatures that crawl over the land: the rat,b mouse, lizards of every kind, 30the gecko, crocodile, lizard, sand lizard, and chameleon. 31These are unclean for you among the swarming creatures, so anyone who touches them when they’re dead becomes unclean until evening. 32Furthermore, anything on which they fall when they’re dead becomes unclean, whether on an article of wood, clothing, skin, or a sack. And any vessel used for any work is to be washed in water, because it has become unclean until evening. 33Any earthen vessel into which any of these things fall becomes unclean, along with everything in it. You are to destroy it, along with all its contents.”

Clean and Unclean Vessels

34“Any food that may be eaten, but into which water has soaked, becomes unclean. Any drink that may be drunk in any of these vessels becomes unclean, 35and anything into which their carcass falls becomes unclean. An oven or stove is to be broken in pieces. They’re unclean and therefore unclean for you.

36“A spring or a cistern that holds water is clean, but whoever touches the carcass of an unclean animal will be unclean. 37If their carcass falls on a seed, which is for sowing, what is to be sown is clean. 38But if water is put on the seed and part of their carcass falls on it, then it has become unclean for you.

39“If any of the animals that you may eat dies, the one who touches its carcass becomes unclean until evening. 40The one who eats from its carcass is to wash his clothes, because he has become unclean until evening. Even the one who carries the carcass is to wash his clothes, because he has become unclean until evening.”

Unclean Swarming Animals

41“Every swarming thing that swarms the land is detestable for you. It is not to be eaten. 42You are not to eat anything that crawls on its belly, anything that walks on four legs, anything that has many legs, or any of the swarming creatures that swarm the land, because they’re detestable. 43You are not to make yourselves detestable on account of any swarming creature that swarms the land, and you are not to defile yourselves and become unclean due to them, 44because I, the LORD, am your God. Set yourselves apart and be holy, because I am holy. You are not to defile yourselves with any of the swarming creatures that swarm the earth. 45I am the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You are to be holy, because I am holy. 46This is the law concerning animals, every living creature that moves on the waters or swarmsc on land. 47You are to differentiate between the clean and unclean, between the living creature that can be eaten and the living creature that is not to be eaten.”