Leviticus 11:30
New International Version
the gecko, the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink and the chameleon.

New Living Translation
the gecko, the monitor lizard, the common lizard, the sand lizard, and the chameleon.

English Standard Version
the gecko, the monitor lizard, the lizard, the sand lizard, and the chameleon.

Berean Standard Bible
the gecko, the monitor lizard, the common lizard, the skink, and the chameleon.

King James Bible
And the ferret, and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole.

New King James Version
the gecko, the monitor lizard, the sand reptile, the sand lizard, and the chameleon.

New American Standard Bible
the gecko, the crocodile, the lizard, the sand reptile, and the chameleon.

NASB 1995
and the gecko, and the crocodile, and the lizard, and the sand reptile, and the chameleon.

NASB 1977
and the gecko, and the crocodile, and the lizard, and the sand reptile, and the chameleon.

Legacy Standard Bible
and the gecko and the crocodile and the lizard and the sand reptile and the chameleon.

Amplified Bible
the gecko, the crocodile, the lizard, the sand reptile, and the chameleon.

Christian Standard Bible
geckos, monitor lizards, common lizards, skinks, and chameleons.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
the gecko, the monitor lizard, the common lizard, the skink, and the chameleon.

American Standard Version
and the gecko, and the land-crocodile, and the lizard, and the sand-lizard, and the chameleon.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And the lizard and the mole and the newt and the chameleon and the centipede.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
the ferret, and the chameleon, and the evet, and the newt, and the mole.

Douay-Rheims Bible
The shrew, and the chameleon, and the stello, and the lizard, and the mole:

English Revised Version
and the gecko, and the land-crocodile, and the lizard, and the sand-lizard, and the chameleon.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
geckos, monitors, lizards, skinks, and chameleons.

International Standard Version
the gecko, crocodile, lizard, sand lizard, and chameleon.

JPS Tanakh 1917
and the gecko, and the land-crocodile, and the lizard, and the sand-lizard, and the chameleon.

Literal Standard Version
and the gecko [[or ferret]], and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole;

Majority Standard Bible
the gecko, the monitor lizard, the common lizard, the skink, and the chameleon.

New American Bible
the gecko, the spotted lizard, the agama, the skink, and the chameleon.

NET Bible
the Mediterranean gecko, the spotted lizard, the wall gecko, the skink, and the chameleon.

New Revised Standard Version
the gecko, the land crocodile, the lizard, the sand lizard, and the chameleon.

New Heart English Bible
the gecko, and the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink, and the chameleon.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the ferret and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole.

World English Bible
the gecko, and the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink, and the chameleon.

Young's Literal Translation
and the ferret, and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Clean and Unclean Animals
29The following creatures that move along the ground are unclean for you: the mole, the mouse, any kind of great lizard, 30the gecko, the monitor lizard, the common lizard, the skink, and the chameleon. 31These animals are unclean for you among all the crawling creatures. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until evening.…

Cross References
Leviticus 11:29
The following creatures that move along the ground are unclean for you: the mole, the mouse, any kind of great lizard,

Leviticus 11:31
These animals are unclean for you among all the crawling creatures. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until evening.


Treasury of Scripture

And the ferret, and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole.

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Leviticus 11
1. What animals may be eaten
4. and what may not be eaten
9. What fishes
13. What fowls
29. The creeping things which are unclean














(30) And the ferret.--The ancient legal authorities explain this name (anakah), which only occurs here in the Hebrew Scriptures, by kipor or kipod, "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." Its skin in ancient days was tied round the udder of cows to prevent other reptiles sucking out their milk. There can, therefore, be no doubt that the administrators of the law took it to be the hedgehog. Some ancient versions, however, render it by shrew mouse, whilst some modern expositors make it the gecko.

And the chameleon.--The ancient versions agree that by this animal (khoach), which denotes "strength," and which occurs nowhere else in the Bible as the name of a reptile, is meant the chameleon. Its power of enduring for a long time without food, which led the ancients to believe that it entirely subsisted upon air, may be the cause both of its Hebrew name (as specified above), and the name chameleon, i.e., "a lion on the ground," a reptile with the strength of a lion, The belief that it lives upon the air had also given rise to its Aramaic name in the time of Christ (zekitha), which denotes the animal that fills itself with air. The perplexity which the administrators of the law experienced about its food, and the time of feeding this creature, may be gathered from the story in the Talmud attributed to one of the sons of Noah, of what happened in the Ark. Sem, the son of Noah, said, "We had much trouble with the chameleon, for whilst we fed the day animals by day and the night animals by night, we did not know what the chameleon fed on. One day, however, I broke open a pomegranate, and a worm fell out of it, which the creature immediately devoured. Afterwards I pounded together fruit, and when it bred maggots the chameleon ate them." The common chameleon is found in Syria and Palestine, and some eastern tribes believe that its flesh when eaten boiled is a remedy for leanness, and if eaten dry cures fever. In Spain chameleons are kept in rooms to destroy troublesome flies.

And the lizard.--Though the ancient authorities agree that the creature here named (l'taah) is lizard, yet the description which the administrators of the law give of it, does not enable us to define the species to which it belongs. The characteristics which they give of the lizard are as follows: It has a thick though soft and smooth skin, and lays eggs in which the yolk and the white are not separated. Its tail when cut off will move for some time afterwards, and the creature itself when apparently dead will sometimes revive by pouring cold water over it.

And the snail.--This meaning of the Hebrew name (chomet) is attested by the highest Jewish authorities of ancient times. It denotes the testaceous kinds, whilst the word (shabbel) in Psalm 58:8 describes the naked species. Snails abound in a great variety of species in the East, and some kinds were eaten by the ancients as a great luxury. It was believed that the slime which it constantly emits as it crawls along brings about its death by a process of dissolution. Hence the remark "and snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away" (Psalm 58:8).

And the mole.--The word (tinshemeth) here translated "mole" is the same which is used in Leviticus 11:18 for an unclean bird. That the Authorised Version, however, gives the correct rendering of the word is not only attested by the ancient versions, but by the following description, which the administrators of the law in the time of Christ give of the reptile here intended. It has no eyes, and burrows into the earth, and destroys the roots. For this reason, as well as for its carrying quantities of corn to its nest, it was ordained during the second Temple that the creature may be killed on the middle days of the two pilgrim festivals, i.e., of the Feasts of Passover and of Tabernacles. In Isaiah 2:20, however, which is the only other passage where the mole occurs in the Hebrew Scriptures, the name for it is cnapar perah. We have already seen in the case of the snail that two different names for the same creature are used designedly to describe the different characteristics of the same animal. . . .

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
the gecko,
וְהָאֲנָקָ֥ה (wə·hā·’ă·nā·qāh)
Conjunctive waw, Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 604: Some kind of lizard, the gecko

the monitor lizard,
וְהַכֹּ֖חַ (wə·hak·kō·aḥ)
Conjunctive waw, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3581: A small reptile (of unknown species)

the common lizard,
וְהַלְּטָאָ֑ה (wə·hal·lə·ṭā·’āh)
Conjunctive waw, Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 3911: (a kind of) lizard

the skink,
וְהַחֹ֖מֶט (wə·ha·ḥō·meṭ)
Conjunctive waw, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2546: (a kind of) lizard

and the chameleon.
וְהַתִּנְשָֽׁמֶת׃ (wə·hat·tin·šā·meṯ)
Conjunctive waw, Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 8580: A hard breather, two unclean creatures, a lizard and a, bird, the tree-toad and the water-hen


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OT Law: Leviticus 11:30 The gecko and the monitor lizard (Le Lv Lev.)
Leviticus 11:29
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