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. 11:6 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.
11:9 “‘These you can eat from all creatures that are in the water: Any creatures in the water that have both fins and scales, 12 whether in the seas or in the streams, 13 you may eat. 11:10 But any creatures that do not have both fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the streams, from all the swarming things of the water and from all the living creatures that are in the water, are detestable to you. 11:11 Since they are detestable to you, you must not eat their meat and their carcass you must detest. 11:12 Any creature in the water that does not have both fins and scales is detestable to you.
11:13 “‘These you are to detest from among the birds – they must not be eaten, because they are detestable: 14 the griffon vulture, the bearded vulture, the black vulture, 11:14 the kite, the buzzard of any kind, 15 11:15 every kind of crow, 16 11:16 the eagle owl, 17 the short-eared owl, the long-eared owl, the hawk of any kind, 11:17 the little owl, the cormorant, the screech owl, 11:18 the white owl, the scops owl, the osprey, 11:19 the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.
11:20 “‘Every winged swarming thing that walks on all fours 18 is detestable to you. 11:21 However, this you may eat from all the winged swarming things that walk on all fours, which have jointed legs 19 to hop with on the land. 11:22 These you may eat from them: 20 the locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, the grasshopper of any kind. 11:23 But any other winged swarming thing that has four legs is detestable to you.
11:24 “‘By these 21 you defile yourselves; anyone who touches their carcass will be unclean until the evening, 11:25 and anyone who carries their carcass must wash his clothes and will be unclean until the evening.
11:26 “‘All 22 animals that divide the hoof but it is not completely split in two 23 and do not chew the cud 24 are unclean to you; anyone who touches them becomes unclean. 25 11:27 All that walk on their paws among all the creatures that walk on all fours 26 are unclean to you. Anyone who touches their carcass will be unclean until the evening, 11:28 and the one who carries their carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; they are unclean to you.
11:29 “‘Now this is what is unclean to you among the swarming things that swarm on the land: 27 the rat, the mouse, the large lizard of any kind, 11:30 the Mediterranean gecko, the spotted lizard, the wall gecko, the skink, and the chameleon. 11:31 These are the ones that are unclean to you among all the swarming things. Anyone who touches them when they die will be unclean until evening. 11:32 Also, anything they fall on 28 when they die will become unclean – any wood vessel or garment or article of leather or sackcloth. Any such vessel with which work is done must be immersed in water 29 and will be unclean until the evening. Then it will become clean. 11:33 As for any clay vessel they fall into, 30 everything in it 31 will become unclean and you must break it. 11:34 Any food that may be eaten which becomes soaked with water 32 will become unclean. Anything drinkable 33 in any such vessel will become unclean. 34 11:35 Anything their carcass may fall on will become unclean. An oven or small stove must be smashed to pieces; they are unclean, and they will stay unclean 35 to you. 11:36 However, a spring or a cistern which collects water 36 will be clean, but one who touches their carcass will be unclean. 11:37 Now, if such a carcass falls on any sowing seed which is to be sown, 37 it is clean, 11:38 but if water is put on the seed and such a carcass falls on it, it is unclean to you.
11:39 “‘Now if an animal 38 that you may eat dies, 39 whoever touches its carcass will be unclean until the evening. 11:40 One who eats from its carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening, and whoever carries its carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. 11:41 Every swarming thing that swarms on the land is detestable; it must not be eaten. 11:42 You must not eat anything that crawls 40 on its belly or anything that walks on all fours or on any number of legs 41 of all the swarming things that swarm on the land, because they are detestable. 11:43 Do not make yourselves detestable by any of the swarming things. 42 You must not defile yourselves by them and become unclean by them, 11:44 for I am the Lord your God and you are to sanctify yourselves and be holy because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any of the swarming things that creep on the ground, 11:45 for I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God, 43 and you are to be holy because I am holy. 11:46 This is the law 44 of the land animals, the birds, all the living creatures that move in the water, and all the creatures 45 that swarm on the land, 11:47 to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between the living creatures that may be eaten and the living creatures that must not be eaten.’”
12:1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 12:2 “Tell the Israelites, ‘When a woman produces offspring 46 and bears a male child, 47 she will be unclean seven days, as she is unclean during the days of her menstruation. 48 12:3 On 49 the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin 50 must be circumcised. 12:4 Then she will remain 51 thirty-three days in blood purity. 52 She must not touch anything holy and she must not enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification are fulfilled. 53 12:5 If she bears a female child, she will be impure fourteen days as during her menstrual flow, and she will remain sixty-six days in 54 blood purity. 55
12:6 “‘When 56 the days of her purification are completed for a son or for a daughter, she must bring a one year old lamb 57 for a burnt offering 58 and a young pigeon or turtledove for a sin offering 59 to the entrance of the Meeting Tent, to the priest. 12:7 The priest 60 is to present it before the Lord and make atonement 61 on her behalf, and she will be clean 62 from her flow of blood. 63 This is the law of the one who bears a child, for the male or the female child. 12:8 If she cannot afford a sheep, 64 then she must take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, 65 one for a burnt offering and one for a sin offering, and the priest is to make atonement on her behalf, and she will be clean.’” 66
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 Heb “all which have fin and scale” (see also vv. 10 and 12).
13 tn Heb “in the water, in the seas and in the streams” (see also vv. 10 and 12).
14 tn For zoological remarks on the following list of birds see J. Milgrom, Leviticus (AB), 1:662-64; and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 159-60.
15 tn Heb “and the buzzard to its kind” (see also vv. 16 and 19 for the same expression “of any kind”).
16 tn Heb “every crow to its kind.” Many English versions (e.g., KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT) render this as “raven.”
17 tn Literally, “the daughter of the wasteland.” Various proposals for the species of bird referred to here include “owl” (KJV), “horned owl” (NIV, NCV), and “ostrich” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).
18 tn Heb “the one walking on four” (cf. vv. 21-23 and 27-28).
19 tn Heb “which to it are lower legs from above to its feet” (reading the Qere “to it” rather than the Kethib “not”).
20 tn For entomological remarks on the following list of insects see J. Milgrom, Leviticus (AB), 1:665-66; and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 160-61.
21 tn Heb “and to these.”
22 tn Heb “to all” (cf. the note on v. 24). This and the following verses develop more fully the categories of uncleanness set forth in principle in vv. 24-25.
23 tn Heb “divides hoof and cleft it does not cleave”; KJV “divideth the hoof, and is not clovenfooted”; NLT “divided but unsplit hooves.”
24 tn See the note on Lev 11:3.
25 sn Compare the regulations in Lev 11:2-8.
26 tn Heb “the one walking on four.” Compare Lev 11:20-23.
27 tn For zoological analyses of the list of creatures in vv. 29-30, see J. Milgrom, Leviticus (AB), 1:671-72; and J. E. Hartley, Leviticus (WBC), 161-62.
28 tn Heb “And all which it shall fall on it from them.”
29 tn Heb “in water it shall be brought.”
30 tn Heb “And any earthenware vessel which shall fall from them into its midst.”
31 tn Heb “all which is in its midst.”
32 tn Heb “which water comes on it.”
33 tn Heb “any drink which may be drunk”; NASB “any liquid which may be drunk”; NLT “any beverage that is in such an unclean container.”
34 tn This half of the verse assumes that the unclean carcass has fallen into the food or drink (cf. v. 33 and also vv. 35-38).
35 tn Heb “be unclean.”
36 tn Heb “a spring and a cistern collection of water”; NAB, NIV “for collecting water.”
37 tn Heb “And if there falls from their carcass on any seed of sowing which shall be sown.”
38 tn This word for “animal” refers to land animal quadrupeds, not just any beast that dwells on the land (cf. 11:2).
39 tn Heb “which is food for you” or “which is for you to eat.”
40 tn Heb “goes” (KJV, ASV “goeth”); NIV “moves about”; NLT “slither along.” The same Hebrew term is translated “walks” in the following clause.
41 tn Heb “until all multiplying of legs.”
42 tn Heb “by any of the swarming things that swarm.”
43 tn Heb “to be to you for a God.”
44 sn The Hebrew term translated “law” (תוֹרָה, torah) introduces here a summary or colophon for all of Lev 11. Similar summaries are found in Lev 7:37-38; 13:59; 14:54-57; and 15:32-33.
45 tn Heb “for all the creatures.”
46 tn Heb “produces seed” (Hiphil of זָרַע, zara’; used only elsewhere in Gen 1:11-12 for plants “producing” their own “seed”), referring to the process of childbearing as a whole, from conception to the time of birth (H. D. Preuss, TDOT 4:144; cf. J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 164-65; and J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:742-43). Smr and LXX have Niphal “be impregnated” (see, e.g., Num 5:28); note KJV “If a woman have conceived seed” (cf. ASV, NAB, NRSV; also NIV, NLT “becomes pregnant”).
47 sn The regulations for the “male child” in vv. 2-4 contrast with those for the “female child” in v. 5 (see the note there).
48 tn Heb “as the days of the menstrual flow [nom.] of her menstruating [q. inf.] she shall be unclean” (R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 1:925-26; the verb appears only in this verse in the OT). Cf. NASB “as in the days of her menstruation”; NLT “during her menstrual period”; NIV “during her monthly period.”
sn See Lev 15:19-24 for the standard purity regulations for a woman’s menstrual period.
49 tn Heb “and in….”
50 tn This rendering, “the flesh of his foreskin,” is literal. Based on Lev 15:2-3, one could argue that the Hebrew word for “flesh” here (בָּשָׂר, basar) is euphemistic for the male genitals and therefore translate “the foreskin of his member” (see, e.g., J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:748). A number of English versions omit this reference to the foreskin and mention only circumcision, presumably for euphemistic reasons (cf. NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).
51 tn Heb “sit, dwell” (יָשָׁב, yashav) normally means “to sit, to dwell”), but here it means “to remain, to stay” in the same condition for a period of time (cf., e.g., Gen 24:55).
52 tn Heb “in bloods of purification” or “purifying” or “purity”; NASB “in the blood of her purification”; NRSV “her time of blood purification.” See the following note.
53 tn The initial seven days after the birth of a son were days of blood impurity for the woman as if she were having her menstrual period. Her impurity was contagious during this period, so no one should touch her or even furniture on which she has sat or reclined (Lev 15:19-23), lest they too become impure. Even her husband would become impure for seven days if he had sexual intercourse with her during this time (Lev 15:24; cf. 18:19). The next thirty-three days were either “days of purification, purifying” or “days of purity,” depending on how one understands the abstract noun טֹהֳרָה (toharah, “purification, purity”) in this context. During this time the woman could not touch anything holy or enter the sanctuary, but she was no longer contagious like she had been during the first seven days. She could engage in normal everyday life, including sexual intercourse, without fear of contaminating anyone else (B. A. Levine, Leviticus [JPSTC], 73-74; cf. J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:749-50). Thus, in a sense, the thirty-three days were a time of blood “purity” (cf. the present translation) as compared to the previous seven days of blood “impurity,” but they were also a time of blood “purification” (or “purifying”) as compared to the time after the thirty-three days, when the blood atonement had been made and she was pronounced “clean” by the priest (see vv. 6-8 below). In other words, the thirty-three day period was a time of “blood” (flow), but this was “pure blood,” as opposed to the blood of the first seven days.
54 tn Heb “on purity blood.” The preposition here is עַל (’al) rather than בְּ (bÿ, as it is in the middle of v. 4), but no doubt the same meaning is intended.
55 tn For clarification of the translation here, see the notes on vv. 2-4 above.
sn The doubling of the time after the birth of a female child is puzzling (see the remarks in J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:750-51; and G. J. Wenham, Leviticus [NICOT], 188). Some have argued, for example, that it derives from the relative status of the sexes, or a supposed longer blood flow for the birth of a woman, or even to compensate for the future menstrual periods of the female just born. Perhaps there is a better explanation. First, a male child must be circumcised on the eighth day, so the impurity of the mother could not last beyond the first seven days lest it interfere with the circumcision rite. A female child, of course, was not circumcised, so the impurity of the mother would not interfere and the length of the impure time could be extended further. Second, it would be natural to expect that the increased severity of the blood flow after childbirth, as compared to that of a woman’s menstrual period, would call for a longer period of impurity than the normal seven days of the menstrual period impurity (compare Lev 15:19 with 15:25-30). Third, this suggests that the fourteen day impurity period for the female child would have been more appropriate, and the impurity period for the birth of a male child had to be shortened. Fourth, not only the principle of multiples of seven but also multiples of forty applies to this reckoning. Since the woman’s blood discharge after bearing a child continues for more than seven days, her discharge keeps her from contact with sacred things for a longer period of time in order to avoid contaminating the tabernacle (note Lev 15:31). This ended up totaling forty days for the birth of a male child (seven plus thirty-three) and a corresponding doubling of the second set of days for the woman (fourteen plus sixty-six). See R. E. Averbeck, NIDOTTE 2:368-70. The fact that the offerings were the same for either a male or a female infant (vv. 6-8) suggests that the other differences in the regulations are not due to the notion that a male child had greater intrinsic value than a female child (J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 169).
56 tn Heb “And when” (so KJV, NASB). Many recent English versions leave the conjunction untranslated.
57 tn Heb “a lamb the son of his year”; KJV “a lamb of the first year” (NRSV “in its first year”); NAB “a yearling lamb.”
58 sn See the note on Lev 1:3 regarding the “burnt offering.”
59 sn See the note on Lev 4:3 regarding the term “sin offering.”
60 tn Heb “and he” (i.e., the priest mentioned at the end of v. 6). The referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
61 sn See the note on Lev 1:4 “make atonement.” The purpose of sin offering “atonement,” in particular, was to purge impurities from the tabernacle (see Lev 15:31 and 16:5-19, 29-34), whether they were caused by physical uncleannesses or by sins and iniquities. In this case, the woman has not “sinned” morally by having a child. Even Mary brought such offerings for giving birth to Jesus (Luke 2:22-24), though she certainly did not “sin” in giving birth to him. Note that the result of bringing this “sin offering” was “she will be clean,” not “she will be forgiven” (cf. Lev 4:20, 26, 31, 35; 5:10, 13). The impurity of the blood flow has caused the need for this “sin offering,” not some moral or relational infringement of the law (contrast Lev 4:2, “When a person sins by straying unintentionally from any of the commandments of the
62 tn Or “she will be[come] pure.”
63 tn Heb “from her source [i.e., spring] of blood,” possibly referring to the female genital area, not just the “flow of blood” itself (as suggested by J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:761). Cf. ASV “from the fountain of her blood.”
64 tn Heb “If her hand cannot find the sufficiency of a sheep.” Many English versions render this as “lamb.”
65 tn Heb “from the sons of the pigeon,” referring either to “young pigeons” or “various species of pigeon” (contrast J. Milgrom, Leviticus [AB], 1:168, with J. E. Hartley, Leviticus [WBC], 14; cf. Lev 1:14 and esp. 5:7-10).
66 tn Or “she will be[come] pure.”