Lev 11:2-47, 17:10-15, Deu 14:3-21, Eze 4:14, Mat 15:11, Act 11:3-18 | ESV | STEP | Speak to the people of Israel , saying , These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth .

2 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, ^aThese are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. 3 Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. 4 Nevertheless, among those that chew the cud or part the hoof, you shall not eat these: The camel, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. 5 And the ^brock badger, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. 6 And the hare, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. 7 And the pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, ^cis unclean to you. 8 You shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.

9 “These you may eat, of all that are in the waters. Everything in the waters that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat. 10 But anything in the seas or the rivers that does not have fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and of the living creatures that are in the waters, is ^ddetestable to you. 11 You shall regard them as detestable; you shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall detest their carcasses. 12 Everything in the waters that does not have fins and scales is detestable to you.

13 “And these you shall detest among the birds; ^{▼▼Or things that fly; compare Genesis 1:20} they shall not be eaten; they are ^fdetestable: ^gthe eagle, ^{▼▼The identity of many of these birds is uncertain} the bearded vulture, the black vulture, 14 the kite, ⁱthe falcon of any kind, 15 every raven of any kind, 16 the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the ^jhawk of any kind, 17 the ^klittle owl, the cormorant, the ^lshort-eared owl, 18 the barn owl, the ^mtawny owl, the carrion vulture, 19 the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and ⁿthe bat.

20 “All winged insects that go on all fours are detestable to you. 21 Yet among the winged insects that go on all fours you may eat those that have jointed legs above their feet, with which to hop on the ground. 22 Of them you may eat: ^othe locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, and the grasshopper of any kind. 23 But all other winged insects that have four feet are detestable to you.

24 “And by these you shall become unclean. Whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening, 25 and whoever carries any part of their carcass ^pshall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. 26 Every animal that parts the hoof but is not cloven-footed or does not chew the cud is unclean to you. Everyone who touches them shall be unclean. 27 And all that walk on their paws, among the animals that go on all fours, are unclean to you. Whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening, 28 and he who carries their carcass ^qshall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening; they are unclean to you.

29 “And these are unclean to you among the swarming things that swarm on the ground: the mole rat, ^rthe mouse, the great lizard of any kind, 30 the gecko, the monitor lizard, the lizard, the sand lizard, and the chameleon. 31 These are unclean to you among all that swarm. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until the evening. 32 And anything on which any of them falls when they are dead shall be unclean, whether it is an article of wood or a garment or a skin or a sack, any article that is used for any purpose. ^sIt must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the evening; then it shall be clean. 33 And if any of them falls into any earthenware vessel, all that is in it shall be unclean, and you ^tshall break it. 34 Any food in it that could be eaten, on which water comes, shall be unclean. And all drink that could be drunk from every such vessel shall be unclean. 35 And everything on which any part of their carcass falls shall be unclean. Whether oven or stove, it shall be broken in pieces. They are unclean and shall remain unclean for you. 36 Nevertheless, a spring or a cistern holding water shall be clean, but whoever touches a carcass in them shall be unclean. 37 And if any part of their carcass falls upon any seed grain that is to be sown, it is clean, 38 but if water is put on the seed and any part of their carcass falls on it, it is unclean to you.

39 “And if any animal which you may eat dies, whoever touches its carcass shall be unclean until the evening, 40 and ^uwhoever eats of its carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. And whoever carries the carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening.

41 ^v“Every swarming thing that swarms on the ground is detestable; it shall not be eaten. 42 Whatever goes on its belly, and whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet, any swarming thing that swarms on the ground, you shall not eat, for they are detestable. 43 ^wYou shall not make yourselves detestable with any swarming thing that swarms, and you shall not defile yourselves with them, and become unclean through them. 44 For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and ^xbe holy, for I am holy. ^yYou shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground. 45 ^zFor I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. ^aaYou shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”

46 This is the law about beast and bird and every living creature that moves through the waters and every creature that swarms on the ground, 47 ^abto make a distinction between the unclean and the clean and between the living creature that may be eaten and the living creature that may not be eaten.

Leviticus 17:10-15

Laws Against Eating Blood

10 “If any one of the house of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn among them ^aceats any blood, I will ^adset my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. 11 ^aeFor the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar ^afto make atonement for your souls, ^agfor it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. 12 Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood.

13 “Any one also of the people of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn among them, who takes in hunting any beast or bird that may be eaten shall ^ahpour out its blood and ^aicover it with earth. 14 For the life of every creature ^{▼▼Hebrew all flesh} is its ^akblood: its blood is its life. ^{▼▼Hebrew it is in its life} Therefore I have said to the people of Israel, You shall not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every creature is its blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off. 15 ^amAnd every person who eats what dies of itself or what is torn by beasts, ^anwhether he is a native or a sojourner, ^aoshall wash his clothes and ^apbathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening; then he shall be clean.

Deuteronomy 14:3-21

3 ^aq“You shall not eat any abomination. 4 ^arThese are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 5 the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, ^{▼▼Or addax} the antelope, and the mountain sheep. 6 Every animal that parts the hoof and has the hoof cloven in two and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. 7 Yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cloven you shall not eat these: the camel, the hare, and the ^atrock badger, because they chew the cud but do not part the hoof, are unclean for you. 8 And the pig, because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and ^autheir carcasses you shall not touch.

9 “Of all that are in the waters you may eat these: whatever has fins and scales you may eat. 10 And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

11 “You may eat all clean birds. 12 But these are the ones that you shall not eat: the eagle, ^{▼▼The identity of many of these birds is uncertain} the bearded vulture, the black vulture, 13 the kite, the falcon of any kind; 14 every raven of any kind; 15 the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk of any kind; 16 the little owl and the short-eared owl, the barn owl 17 and the tawny owl, the carrion vulture and the cormorant, 18 the stork, the heron of any kind; the hoopoe and the bat. 19 And all winged insects are unclean for you; they shall not be eaten. 20 All clean winged things you may eat.

21 ^aw“You shall not eat anything that has died naturally. You may give it to the sojourner who is within your towns, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For ^axyou are a people holy to the Lord your God.

^ay“You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Ezekiel 4:14

14 Then I said, ^az“Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself. ^{▼▼Hebrew my soul (or throat) has never been made unclean} ^bbFrom my youth up till now I have never eaten ^bcwhat died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has ^bdtainted meat come into my mouth.”

Matthew 15:11

11 ^beit is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”

Acts 11:3-18

3 ^bf“You went to uncircumcised men and ^bgate with them.” 4 But Peter began and explained it to them in order: 5 ^bh“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. 6 Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. 7 And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ 10 This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. 11 And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. 12 And the Spirit told me to go with them, ^bimaking no distinction. ^bjThese six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; 14 ^bkhe will declare to you a message by which ^blyou will be saved, you and all your household.’ 15 As I began to speak, ^bmthe Holy Spirit fell on them ^bnjust as on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ^bo‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then ^bpGod gave ^bqthe same gift to them as he gave to us ^brwhen we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, ^bswho was I ^btthat I could stand in God’s way?” 18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they ^buglorified God, saying, ^bv“Then to the Gentiles also God has ^bwgranted ^bxrepentance that leads to life.”