1Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron, telling them,
2“Tell the people of Israel, ‘These are the animals you may eat from all the creatures on earth:
3Any animal that has split hoofs and also chews the cud—these you may eat.
4“‘But you must not eat these animals, even if they chew the cud or have split hoofs: The camel chews the cud but does not have split hoofs, so it is unclean for you.
5The rock badger chews the cud but does not have split hoofs, so it is unclean for you.
6The rabbit chews the cud but does not have split hoofs, so it is unclean for you.
7The pig has split hoofs, but it does not chew the cud, so it is unclean for you.
8You must not eat their meat or touch their dead bodies; they are unclean for you.
9You may eat any of the following creatures from the water: any creature that lives in the seas or rivers and has fins and scales.
10But you must consider detestable all creatures in the seas or rivers that do not have fins and scales, whether they swarm in the water or are any other living creature in the water.
11You must detest them. You must not eat their meat, and you must detest their dead bodies.
12Any creature in the water that does not have fins or scales is detestable to you.
13Among birds, you must detest these and not eat them; they are detestable: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture,
14the red kite, all kinds of black kites,
15all kinds of ravens,
16the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, and all kinds of hawks,
17the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl,
18the white owl, the desert owl, and the osprey are unclean.
19the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat are unclean.
20“‘All flying insects that walk on all four legs are detestable to you.
21However, you may eat these flying insects that move on all fours, which have jointed legs above their feet for hopping on the ground.
22This includes all kinds of locusts, katydids, crickets, and grasshoppers.
23But all other winged insects that have four legs are detestable to you.
24“‘You will become unclean by these: anyone who touches their dead body will be unclean until evening.
25Anyone who carries any part of their dead body must wash their clothes and will be unclean until evening.
26“‘Every animal that has divided hooves but not fully split hooves, and does not chew its cud, is unclean for you. Everyone who touches them will be unclean.
27Whatever walks on its paws, among all animals that move on all fours, is unclean for you. Anyone who touches their dead body will be unclean until evening.
28Anyone who carries the dead body of one of these animals must wash his clothes and remain unclean until evening. These animals are unclean for you.
29“‘Among the small crawling animals that move on the ground, these are unclean for you: the weasel, the rat, and all kinds of lizards,
30the gecko, the monitor lizard, the common lizard, the skink, and the chameleon.
31These are the unclean crawling animals for you. Anyone who touches them after they are dead will be unclean until evening.
32If any of these dead animals falls on something, that item becomes unclean. This applies to any wooden item, clothing, animal skin, sack, or any vessel used for work. It must be put in water and will be unclean until evening; then it will be clean.
33If any of these dead animals falls into an earthenware pot, everything in the pot will become unclean, and you must break the pot.
34Any food that can be eaten, on which water from such a pot comes, will be unclean; and any drink that can be drunk from such a pot will be unclean.
35Anything on which a part of their dead body falls will be unclean. If it's an oven or a cooking pot, it must be broken into pieces. They are unclean and will make you unclean.
36However, a spring or a cistern where water collects will remain clean, but anything that touches their dead body in it will be unclean.
37If a piece of their dead body falls on seeds meant for planting, the seeds remain clean.
38But if water is put on the seed, and part of a dead animal touches it, then the seed is unclean for you.
39If any animal that you are allowed to eat dies, anyone who touches its dead body will be unclean until evening.
40Anyone who eats from its dead body must wash their clothes and will be unclean until evening. Anyone who carries its dead body must also wash their clothes and will be unclean until evening.
41Every creature that crawls on the ground is detestable. You must not eat it.
42You must not eat anything that moves on its belly, or on all fours, or has many feet—any creature that crawls on the ground. They are detestable.
43Do not make yourselves detestable with any creature that crawls. Do not make yourselves unclean with them, and become defiled.
44I am Yahweh your God. Make yourselves holy, and be holy, because I am holy. You must not make yourselves unclean with any kind of small crawling animal that moves on the earth.
45I am Yahweh, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. Therefore, you must be holy, for I am holy.
46This is the law about animals, birds, every living creature that moves in the water, and every creature that crawls on the earth,
47to distinguish between what is unclean and what is clean, and between living things that may be eaten and living things that may not be eaten.