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Leviticus 11

Leviticus 11 orders Israel’s food and contact with animal carcasses around the holiness of the God who delivered them.

YHWH speaks to Moses and Aaron, giving Israel rules about which creatures may be eaten and what happens when people touch animal carcasses. Land animals, water creatures, birds, and insects receive distinct treatment. The instructions also cover clothing, vessels, food, and seed exposed to dead creatures. Some objects require washing; others must be broken. The closing commands ground these distinctions in YHWH’s holiness and his act of bringing Israel out of Egypt.

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2“Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘These are the living things which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth.
3Whatever parts the hoof, and is cloven-footed, and chews the cud among the animals, that you may eat.
5The hyrax, because it chews the cud but doesn’t have a parted hoof, is unclean to you.
7The pig, because it has a split hoof, and is cloven-footed, but doesn’t chew the cud, is unclean to you.
8You shall not eat their meat. You shall not touch their carcasses. They are unclean to you.
9“‘You may eat of all these that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, that you may eat.
10All that don’t have fins and scales in the seas and rivers, all that move in the waters, and all the living creatures that are in the waters, they are an abomination to you,
13“‘You shall detest these among the birds; they shall not be eaten because they are an abomination: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture,
15any kind of raven,
16the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk,
19the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat.
20“‘All flying insects that walk on all fours are an abomination to you.
22Even of these you may eat: any kind of locust, any kind of katydid, any kind of cricket, and any kind of grasshopper.
23But all winged creeping things which have four feet are an abomination to you.
24“‘By these you will become unclean: whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening.
25Whoever carries any part of their carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening.
27Whatever goes on its paws, among all animals that go on all fours, they are unclean to you. Whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening.
28He who carries their carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening. They are unclean to you.
29“‘These are they which are unclean to you among the creeping things that creep on the earth: the weasel, the rat, any kind of great lizard,
31These are they which are unclean to you among all that creep. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until the evening.
32Anything they fall on when they are dead shall be unclean; whether it is any vessel of wood, or clothing, or skin, or sack, whatever vessel it is, with which any work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the evening. Then it will be clean.
33Every earthen vessel into which any of them falls and all that is in it shall be unclean. You shall break it.
34All food which may be eaten which is soaked in water shall be unclean. All drink that may be drunk in every such vessel shall be unclean.
35Everything whereupon part of their carcass falls shall be unclean; whether oven, or range for pots, it shall be broken in pieces. They are unclean, and shall be unclean to you.
37If part of their carcass falls on any sowing seed which is to be sown, it is clean.
39“‘If any animal of which you may eat dies, he who touches its carcass shall be unclean until the evening.
40He who eats of its carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening. He also who carries its carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening.
41“‘Every creeping thing that creeps on the earth is an abomination. It shall not be eaten.
42Whatever goes on its belly, and whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet, even all creeping things that creep on the earth, them you shall not eat; for they are an abomination.
43You shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creeps. You shall not make yourselves unclean with them, that you should be defiled by them.
44For I am the LORD your God. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any kind of creeping thing that moves on the earth.
45For I am the LORD who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
46“‘This is the law of the animal, and of the bird, and of every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every creature that creeps on the earth,
47to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean, and between the living thing that may be eaten and the living thing that may not be eaten.’”
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Key verses
Leviticus 11:44God’s own holiness supplies the reason Israel must consecrate themselves and observe the chapter’s distinctions.
Leviticus 11:45YHWH ties Israel’s call to holiness to his deliverance from Egypt and their belonging to him.
Leviticus 11:25Carrying a carcass requires washing clothes and waiting until evening, showing how uncleanness affects ordinary tasks.
Where this chapter reaches

Deuteronomy repeats many of these food distinctions, while Exodus recounts the deliverance from Egypt that grounds Israel’s obligation to YHWH here. 1 Peter draws on the command to be holy because God is holy, carrying that call into its teaching on Christian conduct.

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After reading the whole chapter

What do the rules about vessels, clothing, and seed show about the reach of Israel’s holiness laws?

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How does the reference to deliverance from Egypt shape your reading of these commands?

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Questions people ask about Leviticus 11

Why does Leviticus 11 forbid eating pork?

Verse 7 places the pig among unclean animals because it has a divided hoof but does not chew the cud. Permitted land animals must meet both conditions. The chapter grounds obedience in God’s holiness and Israel’s belonging to him; it offers no medical explanation for the prohibition.

What does unclean mean in Leviticus 11?

Unclean describes a status under Israel’s purity laws. It applies to forbidden creatures and to people or objects affected by carcass contact. Even an animal permitted for food can cause uncleanness when it dies. The chapter often specifies washing and waiting until evening; this status does not itself establish personal wrongdoing.

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Leviticus · 27 chapters

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).