“Say to the Israelites, ‘Of all the beasts of the earth, these ones you may eat:
Parallel translations
- WEB “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.
- KJV Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth.
- NKJV “Speak to the children of Israel, saying, ‘These are the animals which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth:
- NASB “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘These are the creatures which you may eat from all the animals that are on the earth.
- NLT “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. “Of all the land animals, these are the ones you may use for food.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God tells Israel which land animals they may eat. The Creator has the right to define how his people live, even at the table.
Overview
The dietary laws begin with land animals, teaching Israel daily, tangible holiness through what they eat. These distinctions reinforced Israel's separateness and dependence on God's word for ordinary life. Christians understand these laws as fulfilled and lifted in Christ (Colossians 2:16-17), yet the underlying call to wholehearted holiness remains.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Lev 11:11They shall be an abomination to you; you must not eat their meat, and you must detest their carcasses.
- Matt 15:11A man is not defiled by what enters his mouth, but by what comes out of it.”
- Heb 9:10They consist only in food and drink and special washings—external regulations imposed until the time of reform.
- Acts 10:12–14It contained all kinds of four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth, as well as birds of the air.
- Lev 11:29The following creatures that move along the ground are unclean for you: the mole, the mouse, any kind of great lizard,
- Rom 14:2–3For one person has faith to eat all things, while another, who is weak, eats only vegetables.
- Heb 13:9Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace and not by foods of no value to those devoted to them.
- Ezek 4:14“Ah, Lord GOD,” I said, “I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have not eaten anything found dead or mauled by wild beasts. No unclean meat has ever entered my mouth.”
- Rom 14:14–15I am convinced and fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean.
- Mark 7:15–19Nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him; but the things that come out of a man, these are what defile him.”
- Lev 11:4But of those that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof, you are not to eat the following: The camel, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you.
- Deut 14:3–21You must not eat any detestable thing.
- Lev 11:41–44Every creature that moves along the ground is detestable; it must not be eaten.
- 1 Tim 4:4–6For every creation of God is good, and nothing that is received with thanksgiving should be rejected,
- Lev 11:39If an animal that you may eat dies, anyone who touches the carcass will be unclean until evening.
- Lev 11:21However, you may eat the following kinds of flying insects that walk on all fours: those having jointed legs above their feet for hopping on the ground.
- Lev 11:9Of all the creatures that live in the water, whether in the seas or in the streams, you may eat anything with fins and scales.
- Lev 11:34Any food coming into contact with water from that pot will be unclean, and any drink in such a container will be unclean.
- Dan 1:8But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s food or wine. So he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself.
- Lev 11:13Additionally, you are to detest the following birds, and they must not be eaten because they are detestable: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture,
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Christ at the center
Every sacrifice, every priest, and every day of atonement points beyond itself to the one perfect offering and the great High Priest who, by his own blood, makes the unclean holy once for all.
How Leviticus 11:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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