Leviticus 11:44

For I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any creature that crawls along the ground.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Yahweh addresses the congregation of Israel at Sinai, closing the dietary-purity section of Leviticus 11.

The words — The verb הִתְקַדֵּשׁ (hitqaḏêš) is hitpael, a reflexive form meaning "you will set yourselves apart," emphasizing the people's own deliberate action. The predicate noun קְדֹשִׁים (qĕdôšîm) is the plural of qadosh, "holy," placed in contrast with the common/unclean creatures named in the next clause.

The thread — The formula "be holy, because I am holy" recurs in Leviticus 19:2, and the "I am the LORD your God" identification appears in Exodus 20:2 and the immediate verse Leviticus 11:45.

Why it lands — It binds a concrete prohibition (crawling creatures) to an identity claim: holiness is enacted through separation, not merely declared. The reader is asked to treat dietary boundaries as participation in God's character rather than arbitrary rule-keeping.

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

כִּ֣יkifor אֲנִ֣י'a.NiI יְהוָה֮Yah.weh[am] Yahweh אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶם֒'e.lo.hei./KhemGod/ your וְהִתְקַדִּשְׁתֶּם֙ve./hit.ka.dish.Temand/ you will keep yourselves holy וִהְיִיתֶ֣םvi/h.yi.Temand/ you will be קְדֹשִׁ֔יםke.do.Shimholy כִּ֥יkifor קָד֖וֹשׁka.Do.osh[am] holy אָ֑נִי'A.niI וְלֹ֤אve./Lo'and/ not תְטַמְּאוּ֙te.ta.me.'Uyou must make unclean אֶת־'et-<obj.>נַפְשֹׁ֣תֵיכֶ֔םnaf.Sho.tei./Khemselves/ your בְּכָל־be./kholby/ any הַשֶּׁ֖רֶץha./She.retz<the>/ swarming thing הָרֹמֵ֥שׂha./ro.Meswhich/ creeps עַל־'al-on הָאָֽרֶץ׃ha./'A.retzthe/ earth

King James Version

For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Cross-references

Exodus 20:2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
1 Peter 1:15 But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do,
Leviticus 19:2 “Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.
Leviticus 20:7 Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 20:26 You are to be holy to Me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be My own.
1 Thessalonians 4:7 For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness.
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
Leviticus 21:8 You are to regard him as holy, since he presents the food of your God. He shall be holy to you, because I the LORD am holy—I who set you apart.
Deuteronomy 14:2 for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.
Revelation 22:11 Let the unrighteous continue to be unrighteous, and the vile continue to be vile; let the righteous continue to practice righteousness, and the holy continue to be holy.”