Leviticus 11:29

THE MESSAGE

"Among the creatures that crawl on the ground, the following are unclean for you: weasel, rat, all lizards, gecko, monitor lizard, wall lizard, skink, chameleon. Among the crawling creatures, these are unclean for you. If you touch them when they are dead, you are ritually unclean until evening. When one of them dies and falls on something, that becomes unclean no matter what it's used for, whether it's made of wood, cloth, hide, or sackcloth. Put it in the water—it's unclean until evening, and then it's clean. If one of these dead creatures falls into a clay pot, everything in the pot is unclean and you must break the pot. Any food that could be eaten but has water on it from such a pot is unclean, and any liquid that could be drunk from it is unclean. Anything that one of these carcasses falls on is unclean—an oven or cooking pot must be broken up; they're unclean and must be treated as unclean. A spring, though, or a cistern for collecting water remains clean, but if you touch one of these carcasses you're ritually unclean. If a carcass falls on any seeds that are to be planted, they remain clean. But if water has been put on the seed and a carcass falls on it, you must treat it as unclean.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
"'These are they which are unclean to you among the creeping things that creep on the eretz: the kholed, the rat, any kind of tzav,

King James Version
These also shall be unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind,

Lexham English Bible
"‘And these are the unclean for you among the swarmers that swarm on the land: the weasel and the mouse and the thorn-tailed lizard according to its kind,

New Century Version
"‘These crawling animals are unclean for you: moles, rats, all kinds of great lizards,

New English Translation
"‘Now this is what is unclean to you among the swarming things that swarm on the land: the rat, the mouse, the large lizard of any kind,

Amplified Bible
'These also are unclean to you among the swarming things that crawl around on the ground [and multiply profusely]: the mole, the mouse, and any kind of great lizard,

New American Standard Bible
'Now these are to you the unclean among the swarming things which swarm on the earth: the mole, the mouse, and the great lizard in its kinds,

Geneva Bible (1587)
Also these shalbe vncleane to you amog the things that creepe and moue vpon the earth, the weasell, and the mouse, and the frog, after his kinde:

Legacy Standard Bible
‘Now these are to you the unclean among the swarming things which swarm on the earth: the mole and the mouse and the great lizard in its kinds,

Contemporary English Version
Moles, rats, mice, and all kinds of lizards are unclean.

Complete Jewish Bible
"‘The following are unclean for you among the small creatures that swarm on the ground: the weasel, the mouse, the various kinds of lizards,

Darby Translation
And these shall be unclean unto you among the crawling things which crawl on the earth: the mole, and the field-mouse, and the lizard, after its kind;

Easy-to-Read Version
"These small animals are unclean for you: moles, mice, all kinds of great lizards,

English Standard Version
"And these are unclean to you among the swarming things that swarm on the ground: the mole rat, the mouse, the great lizard of any kind,

George Lamsa Translation
These also are unclean to you among all the creeping things that creep upon the earth: the weasel, and the mouse, the lizard after its kind,

Good News Translation
Moles, rats, mice, and lizards must be considered unclean.

Christian Standard Bible®
“These creatures that swarm on the ground are unclean for you:

Literal Translation
And these shall be unclean to you among the swarming things which swarm on the earth: the weasel, and the mouse, and the great lizard according to its kind,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
These shalbe vncleane vnto you also, amonge the beestes that crepe vpon earth: ye Wesell, the Mouse, the Tode, euery one with his kynde,

American Standard Version
And these are they which are unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth: the weasel, and the mouse, and the great lizard after its kind,

Bible in Basic English
And these are unclean to you among things which go low down on the earth; the weasel and the mouse and the great lizard, and animals of that sort;

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And let these also be vncleane to you, among the thynges that creepe vpon the earth: the Weasel, and the Mouse, and the Toade after ther kinde:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And these are they which are unclean unto you among the swarming things that swarm upon the earth: the weasel, and the mouse, and the great lizard after its kinds,

King James Version (1611)
These also shalbe vncleane vnto you, among the creeping things that creepe vpon the earth: the Weasell, and the Mouse, and the Tortois, after his kinde,

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And these are unclean to you of reptiles upon the earth, the weasel, and the mouse, and the lizard,

English Revised Version
And these are they which are unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth; the weasel, and the mouse, and the great lizard after its kind,

Berean Standard Bible
The following creatures that move along the ground are unclean for you: the mole, the mouse, any kind of great lizard,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Also these thingis schulen be arettid among defoulid thingis, of these that ben moued on erthe; a wesele, and mows, and a cocodrille, `alle bi her kynde;

Young's Literal Translation
`And this [is] to you the unclean among the teeming things which are teeming on the earth: the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after its kind,

Update Bible Version
And these are unclean to you among the creeping things that creep on the earth: the weasel, and the mouse, and the great lizard after its kind,

Webster's Bible Translation
These also [shall be] unclean to you among the creeping animals that creep upon the earth; the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise, after its kind,

World English Bible
"'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,

New King James Version
"These also shall be unclean to you among the creeping things that creep on the earth: the mole, the mouse, and the large lizard after its kind;

New Living Translation
"Of the small animals that scurry along the ground, these are unclean for you: the mole rat, the rat, large lizards of all kinds,

New Life Bible
‘These animals that move on the earth are unclean to you: the mole, the mouse, every kind of big lizard,

New Revised Standard
These are unclean for you among the creatures that swarm upon the earth: the weasel, the mouse, the great lizard according to its kind,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And, these, unto you, shall be unclean, among the creeping things that creep upon the earth, - the weasel and the mouse, and the lizard after its kind;

Douay-Rheims Bible
These also shall be reckoned among unclean things, of all that move upon the earth. The weasel, and the mouse, and the crocodile, every one according to their kind:

Revised Standard Version
"And these are unclean to you among the swarming things that swarm upon the earth: the weasel, the mouse, the great lizard according to its kind,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
'Now these are to you the unclean among the swarming things which swarm on the earth: the mole, and the mouse, and the great lizard in its kinds,

Contextual Overview

²⁰"All flying insects that walk on all fours are detestable to you. But you can eat some of these, namely, those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground: all locusts, katydids, crickets, and grasshoppers. But all the other flying insects that have four legs you are to detest. ²⁴"You will make yourselves ritually unclean until evening if you touch their carcasses. If you pick up one of their carcasses you must wash your clothes and you'll be unclean until evening. ²⁶ "Every animal that has a split hoof that's not completely divided, or that doesn't chew the cud is unclean for you; if you touch the carcass of any of them you become unclean. ²⁷"Every four-footed animal that goes on its paws is unclean for you; if you touch its carcass you are unclean until evening. If you pick up its carcass you must wash your clothes and are unclean until evening. They are unclean for you. ²⁹"Among the creatures that crawl on the ground, the following are unclean for you: weasel, rat, all lizards, gecko, monitor lizard, wall lizard, skink, chameleon. Among the crawling creatures, these are unclean for you. If you touch them when they are dead, you are ritually unclean until evening. When one of them dies and falls on something, that becomes unclean no matter what it's used for, whether it's made of wood, cloth, hide, or sackcloth. Put it in the water—it's unclean until evening, and then it's clean. If one of these dead creatures falls into a clay pot, everything in the pot is unclean and you must break the pot. Any food that could be eaten but has water on it from such a pot is unclean, and any liquid that could be drunk from it is unclean. Anything that one of these carcasses falls on is unclean—an oven or cooking pot must be broken up; they're unclean and must be treated as unclean. A spring, though, or a cistern for collecting water remains clean, but if you touch one of these carcasses you're ritually unclean. If a carcass falls on any seeds that are to be planted, they remain clean. But if water has been put on the seed and a carcass falls on it, you must treat it as unclean. ³⁹"If an animal that you are permitted to eat dies, anyone who touches the carcass is ritually unclean until evening. If you eat some of the carcass you must wash your clothes and you are unclean until evening. If you pick up the carcass you must wash your clothes and are unclean until evening. ⁴¹"Creatures that crawl on the ground are detestable and not to be eaten. Don't eat creatures that crawl on the ground, whether on their belly or on all fours or on many feet—they are detestable. Don't make yourselves unclean or be defiled by them, because I am your God .

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

creeping things that creep: Leviticus 11:20, Leviticus 11:21, Leviticus 11:41, Leviticus 11:42, Psalms 10:3, Psalms 17:13, Psalms 17:14, Haggai 2:6, Luke 12:15, Luke 16:14, John 6:26, John 6:66, Ephesians 4:14, Philippians 3:19, Colossians 3:5, 2 Timothy 3:2-5, Hebrews 13:5

Reciprocal: Ezekiel 8:10 - every

Cross-References

Genesis 17:15
God continued speaking to Abraham, "And Sarai your wife: Don't call her Sarai any longer; call her Sarah. I'll bless her—yes! I'll give you a son by her! Oh, how I'll bless her! Nations will come from her; kings of nations will come from her."

Genesis 22:20
After all this, Abraham got the news: "Your brother Nahor is a father! Milcah has given him children: Uz, his firstborn, his brother Buz, Kemuel (he was the father of Aram), Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel." (Bethuel was the father of Rebekah.) Milcah gave these eight sons to Nahor, Abraham's brother.

Genesis 24:15
It so happened that the words were barely out of his mouth when Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel whose mother was Milcah the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, came out with a water jug on her shoulder. The girl was stunningly beautiful, a pure virgin. She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came back up. The servant ran to meet her and said, "Please, can I have a sip of water from your jug?"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

These also [shall be] unclean unto you among the creeping things that creep upon the earth,.... As distinguished from those creeping things that fly, these having no wings as they; and which were equally unclean, neither to be eaten nor touched, neither their blood, their skin, nor their flesh, as the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it: and the Misnic doctors say d that the blood of a creeping thing and its flesh are joined together: and Maimonides e observes, that this is a fundamental thing with them, that the blood of a creeping thing is like its flesh; which in Siphre (an ancient book of theirs) is gathered from what is said in Leviticus 11:29 "these shall be unclean", c. hence the wise men say, the blood of a creeping thing pollutes as its flesh: the creeping things intended are as follow:

the weasel, and the mouse, and the tortoise after his kind the first of these, "the weasel", a creature well known; there are two sorts of it, as Pliny f says, the field weasel, and the house weasel; the former are called by the Jewish writers the weasel of the bushes g, and the latter the weasel that dwells in the foundations of houses h; and of the former there was a doubt among some of them whether it was a species of the eight reptiles in Leviticus 11:29 or whether it was a species of animals i; and which, Maimonides says, is a species of foxes like to weasels: Bochart k thinks the mole is intended; but the generality of interpreters understand it of the weasel; and so Jarchi and Kimchi, and Philip Aquinas l, interpret it by "mustela", the weasel: however, all agree the second is rightly interpreted "the mouse"; which has its name in Hebrew from its being a waster and destroyer of fields; an instance of which we have in 1 Samuel 6:5

1 Samuel 6:5- :; so that this sort may be chiefly intended, though it includes all others, who are distinguished by their colours, the black, the red, and the white, which are all mentioned by Jonathan in his paraphrase of the text: this animal, as a learned physician m expresses it, eats almost everything, gnaws whatever it meets with, and, among other things, is a great lover of swine's flesh, which was an abomination to the Jews; nor does it abstain from dung, and therefore it is no wonder it should be reckoned among impure creatures; and yet we find they were eaten by some people, see Isaiah 66:17 especially the dormouse; for which the old Romans made conveniences to keep them in, and feed them, and breed them for the table n: so rats in the West Indies are brought to market and sold for food, as a learned author o of undoubted credit assures us, who was an eyewitness of it: the last in this text, "the tortoise", means the land tortoise; it has its name from the shell with which it is covered, this word being sometimes used for a covered wagon, Numbers 7:3 there are various kinds of them, as Pliny p and other writers observe, and who, as Strabo q and Mela r also, speak of a people they call Chelonophagi, or tortoise eaters: a tortoise of the land kind is esteemed a very delicate dish: Dr. Shaw s, speaking of the land and water tortoises in Barbary, says, the former, which hides itself during the winter months, is very palatable food, but the latter is very unwholesome: the Septuagint version renders it, the "land crocodile", which, is approved of by Bochart t: and Leo Africanus says u, that many in Egypt eat the flesh of the crocodile, and affirm it to be of good savour; and so Benzon w says, its flesh is white and tender, and tastes like veal; though some among them, as Strabo x asserts, have a great antipathy and hatred to them; and others worship them as gods, and neither can be supposed to eat them; the land crocodiles are eaten by the Syrians, as Jerom y affirms, for those feeding on the sweetest flowers, as is said, their entrails are highly valued for their agreeable odour: Jarchi says, it is a creature like a frog; he means a toad; so Philip Aquinas and many render the word: Dr. Shaw takes the creature designed to be the sharp-scaled tailed lizard z.

d Misn. Meilah, c. 4. sect. 3. e Pirush. in ib. f Nat. Hist. l. 29. c. 4. g Misn. Celaim, c. 8. sect. 5. h T. Bab. Cholin, fol. 20. 2. i Maimon. in Misn. ib. k Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 3. c. 95. col. 1022. l Sepher Shorash. & Aquinas in rad. חלד. m Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 2. p. 307. n Varro de re Rustic. l. 3. c. 14. apud Sir Hans Sloane's History of Jamaica, vol. 1. Introduct. p. 24. o Sir Hans Sloane, ib. p. 25. p Nat. Hist. l. 9. c. 10. & l. 32. c. 4. q Geograph. l. 16. p. 532. r De Situ Orbis, l. 3. c. 8. s Travels, p. 178. t Ut supra, (Hierozoic. par. 1.) l. 4. c. 1. u Descriptio Africae, l. 9. p. 762. w Nov. Orb. Hist. c. 3. x Geograph. l. 17. p. 558, 560, 561, 563. y Adv. Jovin. l. 2. z Ut supra. (Travels, p. 178.)

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The identification of “the creeping things” here named is not always certain. They are most likely those which were occasionally eaten. For the “Tortoise” read “the great lizard,” for the “ferret” the “gecko” (one of the lizard tribe), for the “chameleon” read the “frog” or the Nile lizard: by the word rendered “snail” is probably meant another kind of lizard, and by the “mole” the “chameleon.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 29. The weasel — חלד choled, from chalad, Syr., to creep in. Bochart conjectures, with great propriety, that the mole, not the weasel, is intended by the Hebrew word: its property of digging into the earth, and creeping or burrowing under the surface, is well known.

The mouse — עחבר achbar. Probably the large field rat, or what is called by the Germans the hamster, though every species of the mus genus may be here prohibited.

The tortoise — צב tsab. Most critics allow that the tortoise is not intended here, but rather the crocodile, the frog, or the toad. The frog is most probably the animal meant, and all other creatures of its kind.