Leviticus 11:44

44 I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground.

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Leviticus 11:44 in Other Translations

KJV

44 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.

ESV

44 For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground.

NLT

44 For I am the LORD your God. You must consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. So do not defile yourselves with any of these small animals that scurry along the ground.

MSG

44 "Make yourselves holy for I am holy. Don't make yourselves ritually unclean by any creature that crawls on the ground.

CSB

44 For I am the Lord your God, so you must consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any swarming creature that crawls on the ground.

Leviticus 11:44 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 11:44

For I [am] the Lord your God
Their Lord, and therefore had a right to enjoin them what laws he pleased concerning their food; and their God, their covenant God, and therefore would consult their good, and direct them to what was most proper, convenient, and wholesome for them:

ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy, for I
[am] holy;
that is, separate themselves from all other people, and be distinct from them, by using a different diet from theirs, as their Lord and God was different from all others, so called; and thus by observing his commands, and living according to his will, and to his glory, they would be holy in a moral sense, as they ought to be, who were under the peculiar care and notice of a holy God, and so highly favoured by him; and particularly by attending to the above laws concerning food, they would be kept from mixing with, and having conversation with the Gentiles, and so be preserved from falling into idolatry, and continue a holy people, serving and worshipping the Lord their God, and him only; and which seems to be a principal view as to religion, in delivering out the above commands:

neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth;
which is repeated to keep them at the utmost distance from these things, and to fill them with an aversion to them, that they might be careful to avoid them. There is no penalty annexed to these laws, but the breach of them making them unclean, thereby they were debarred the use of the sanctuary, and of holy things, and of the conversation of men, for that day; but, according to the Jewish writers, such transgressions were punishable with stripes. Jarchi observes out of the Talmud ^F12, that he that eateth "putitha" (a small water reptile) was to be beaten four times, and if an ant or pismire five times, and if a wasp or hornet six times.

FOOTNOTES:

F12 T. Bab. Erubin, fol. 28. 1. Pesachim, fol. 24. 1. Maccot, fol. 16. 2.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Leviticus 11:44 In-Context

42 You are not to eat any creature that moves along the ground, whether it moves on its belly or walks on all fours or on many feet; it is unclean.

43 Do not defile yourselves by any of these creatures. Do not make yourselves unclean by means of them or be made unclean by them.

44 I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves along the ground.

45 I am the LORD, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.

46 “ ‘These are the regulations concerning animals, birds, every living thing that moves about in the water and every creature that moves along the ground.

Cross References 5

1. S Exodus 6:2,7; Exodus 20:2; Isaiah 43:3; Isaiah 51:15; Ezekiel 20:5
2. S Exodus 19:10; Leviticus 20:7; Numbers 15:40; Joshua 3:5; Joshua 7:13; 1 Chronicles 15:12; 2 Chronicles 29:5; 2 Chronicles 35:6
3. S Exodus 22:31; S Deuteronomy 14:2; Exodus 19:6
4. S Exodus 31:13; Leviticus 19:2; Leviticus 20:7; Joshua 24:19; 1 Samuel 2:2; Job 6:10; Psalms 99:3; Ephesians 1:4; 1 Thessalonians 4:7; 1 Peter 1:15,16*
5. S ver 43