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24 You become unclean by the following—anyone who touches their carcasses shall be unclean until evening,(A) 25 and anyone who carries any part of their carcasses shall wash his garments and be unclean until evening— 26 by all hoofed animals that are not cloven-footed or do not chew the cud; they are unclean for you; anyone who touches them becomes unclean. 27 Also by the various quadrupeds that walk on paws; they are unclean for you; anyone who touches their carcasses shall be unclean until evening, 28 and anyone who carries their carcasses shall wash his garments and be unclean until evening. They are unclean for you.

29 Of the creatures that swarm on the ground, the following are unclean for you: the rat, the mouse, the various kinds of lizards, 30 the gecko, the spotted lizard, the agama, the skink, and the chameleon. 31 Among the various swarming creatures, these are unclean for you. Everyone who touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until evening. 32 Everything on which one of them falls when dead becomes unclean, including any article of wood, cloth, leather or goat hair—any article of which use can be made. It must be immersed in water and remain unclean until evening, when it again becomes clean. 33 Should any of these creatures fall into a clay vessel, everything in it becomes unclean, and the vessel itself you must break. 34 Any food that can be eaten which makes contact with water, and any liquid that may be drunk, in any such vessel become unclean. 35 Any object on which any part of their carcasses falls becomes unclean; if it is an oven or stove, this must be broken to pieces; they are unclean and shall always be unclean to you. 36 However, a spring or a cistern for collecting water remains clean; but whoever touches such an animal’s carcass becomes unclean. 37 If any part of their carcasses falls on any sort of grain that is to be sown, it remains clean; 38 but if the grain has become moistened, it becomes unclean to you when any part of their carcasses falls on it.

39 [a](B)When one of the animals that you could otherwise eat dies of itself, anyone who touches its carcass shall be unclean until evening; 40 and anyone who eats any part of its carcass shall wash his garments and be unclean until evening;(C) so also, anyone who carries its carcass shall wash his garments and be unclean until evening.

41 All the creatures that swarm on the ground are loathsome and shall not be eaten.

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Footnotes

  1. 11:39–40 These animals create uncleanness, but are not prohibited as food (cf. 17:15–16). Priests who have a higher degree of holiness than other Israelites may not eat these animals (22:8; cf. Ez 44:31). Cf. Ex 22:30; Dt 14:21.