Leviticus 11:1-5

Clean and Unclean Land Creatures

11:1 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, 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.

[11:2]  ¹ tn Heb “the animal,” but as a collective plural, and so throughout this chapter.

[11:3]  ² tn Heb “every divider of hoof and cleaver of the cleft of hooves”; KJV, ASV “parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted.”

[11:3]  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.

[11:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “this,” but as a collective plural (see the following context).

[11:4]  ⁵ sn Regarding “clean” versus “unclean,” see the note on Lev 10:10.

[11:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “because a chewer of the cud it is” (see also vv. 5 and 6).

[11:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “and hoof there is not dividing” (see also vv. 5 and 6).

[11:5]  ⁸ sn A small animal generally understood to be Hyrax syriacus; KJV, ASV, NIV “coney”; NKJV “rock hyrax.”