Bible Strands
Leviticus 11:29
The following creatures that move along the ground are unclean for you: the mole, the mouse, any kind of great lizard,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses the assembled Israelites during the wilderness wanderings, delivering direct ceremonial instructions to separate clean from unclean animals. This declaration occurs mid-chapter as part of a systematic catalog of prohibited ground-dwelling creatures.
The words — The text employs הַ/טָּמֵ֔א (ha./ta.Me'), meaning "the unclean," to assign a ritual status rather than a moral judgment. It couples this with בַּ/שֶּׁ֖רֶץ (ba./She.retz), literally "among the swarming things," to classify creatures by their mode of locomotion.
The thread — This prohibition against ground-moving animals reappears in Leviticus 11:41, which declares all such creatures detestable and forbids their consumption. The same categorical framework governs Leviticus 11:20, which extends the unclean designation to flying insects that walk on four legs.
Why it lands — The verse establishes a concrete boundary: contact with specified ground-dwelling animals requires ritual washing and waiting until evening before resuming holy activities. It demands precise compliance with the listed categories without attaching ethical value to the animals themselves.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
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,
Cross-references
- Leviticus 11:41 Every creature that moves along the ground is detestable; it must not be eaten.
- Leviticus 11:20 All flying insects that walk on all fours are detestable to you.
- Psalms 10:3 For the wicked man boasts in the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD.
- Psalms 17:13 Arise, O LORD, confront them! Bring them to their knees; deliver me from the wicked by Your sword,
- Isaiah 66:17 “Those who consecrate and purify themselves to enter the groves—to follow one in the center of those who eat the flesh of swine and vermin and rats—will perish together,” declares the LORD.
- Haggai 2:6 For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.
- Luke 12:15 And He said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourselves against every form of greed, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”
- Luke 16:14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all of this and were scoffing at Jesus.
- John 6:26 Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, it is not because you saw these signs that you are looking for Me, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.
- John 6:66 From that time on many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him.