Leviticus 11:2-8

11:2 “Tell the Israelites: ‘This is the kind of creature you may eat from among all the animals ¹  that are on the land. 11:3 You may eat any among the animals that has a divided hoof (the hooves are completely split in two ² ) and that also chews the cud. ³  11:4 However, you must not eat these ⁴  from among those that chew the cud and have divided hooves: The camel is unclean to you ⁵  because it chews the cud ⁶  even though its hoof is not divided. ⁷  11:5 The rock badger ⁸  is unclean to you because it chews the cud even though its hoof is not divided. 11:6 The hare is unclean to you because it chews the cud even though its hoof is not divided. 11:7 The pig is unclean to you because its hoof is divided (the hoof is completely split in two ⁹ ), even though it does not chew the cud. ¹⁰  11:8 You must not eat from their meat and you must not touch their carcasses; ¹¹  they are unclean to you.

Deuteronomy 14:3-8

14:3 You must not eat any forbidden ¹²  thing. 14:4 These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 14:5 the ibex, ¹³  the gazelle, ¹⁴  the deer, ¹⁵  the wild goat, the antelope, ¹⁶  the wild oryx, ¹⁷  and the mountain sheep. ¹⁸  14:6 You may eat any animal that has hooves divided into two parts and that chews the cud. ¹⁹  14:7 However, you may not eat the following animals among those that chew the cud or those that have divided hooves: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger. ²⁰  (Although they chew the cud, they do not have divided hooves and are therefore ritually impure to you). 14:8 Also the pig is ritually impure to you; though it has divided hooves, ²¹  it does not chew the cud. You may not eat their meat or even touch their remains.

¹ tn Heb “the animal,” but as a collective plural, and so throughout this chapter.

² tn Heb “every divider of hoof and cleaver of the cleft of hooves”; KJV, ASV “parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted.”

³ tn Heb “bringer up of the cud” (a few of the ancient versions include the conjunction “and,” but it does not appear in the MT). The following verses make it clear that both dividing the hoof and chewing the cud were required; one of these conditions would not be enough to make the animal suitable for eating without the other.

⁴ tn Heb “this,” but as a collective plural (see the following context).

⁵ sn Regarding “clean” versus “unclean,” see the note on Lev 10:10.

⁶ tn Heb “because a chewer of the cud it is” (see also vv. 5 and 6).

⁷ tn Heb “and hoof there is not dividing” (see also vv. 5 and 6).

⁸ sn A small animal generally understood to be Hyrax syriacus; KJV, ASV, NIV “coney”; NKJV “rock hyrax.”

⁹ tn See the note on Lev 11:3.

¹⁰ tn The meaning and basic rendering of this clause is quite certain, but the verb for “chewing” the cud here is not the same as the preceding verses, where the expression is “to bring up the cud” (see the note on v. 3 above). It appears to be a cognate verb for the noun “cud” (גֵּרָה, gerah) and could mean either “to drag up” (i.e., from the Hebrew Qal of גָרָר [garar] meaning “to drag,” referring to the dragging the cud up and down between the stomach and mouth of the ruminant animal; so J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:647, 653) or “to chew” (i.e., from the Hebrew Niphal [or Qal B] of גָרָר used in a reciprocal sense; so J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 149, and compare BDB 176 s.v. גָרַר, “to chew,” with HALOT 204 s.v. גרר qal.B, “to ruminate”).

¹¹ sn The regulations against touching the carcasses of dead unclean animals (contrast the restriction against eating their flesh) is treated in more detail in Lev 11:24-28 (cf. also vv. 29-40). For the time being, this chapter continues to develop the issue of what can and cannot be eaten.

¹² tn The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “forbidden; abhorrent”) describes anything detestable to the Lord because of its innate evil or inconsistency with his own nature and character. See note on the word “abhorrent” in Deut 7:25. Cf. KJV “abominable”; NIV “detestable”; NRSV “abhorrent.”

¹³ tn The Hebrew term אַיָּל (’ayyal) may refer to a type of deer (cf. Arabic ’ayyal). Cf. NAB “the red deer.”

¹⁴ tn The Hebrew term צְבִי (tsÿvi) is sometimes rendered “roebuck” (so KJV).

¹⁵ tn The Hebrew term יַחְמוּר (yakhmur) may refer to a “fallow deer”; cf. Arabic yahmur (“deer”). Cf. NAB, NIV, NCV “roe deer”; NEB, NRSV, NLT “roebuck.”

¹⁶ tn The Hebrew term דִּישֹׁן (dishon) is a hapax legomenon. Its referent is uncertain but the animal is likely a variety of antelope (cf. NEB “white-rumped deer”; NIV, NRSV, NLT “ibex”).

¹⁷ tn The Hebrew term תְּאוֹ (tÿ’o; a variant is תּוֹא, to’) could also refer to another species of antelope. Cf. NEB “long-horned antelope”; NIV, NRSV “antelope.”

¹⁸ tn The Hebrew term זֶמֶר (zemer) is another hapax legomenon with the possible meaning “wild sheep.” Cf. KJV, ASV “chamois”; NEB “rock-goat”; NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “mountain sheep.”

¹⁹ tn The Hebrew text includes “among the animals.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

²⁰ tn The Hebrew term שָׁפָן (shafan) may refer to the “coney” (cf. KJV, NIV) or hyrax (“rock badger,” cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).

²¹ tc The MT lacks (probably by haplography) the phrase וְשֹׁסַע שֶׁסַע פַּרְסָה (vÿshosa’ shesa’ parsah, “and is clovenfooted,” i.e., “has parted hooves”), a phrase found in the otherwise exact parallel in Lev 11:7. The LXX and Smr attest the longer reading here. The meaning is, however, clear without it.