Leviticus 11:43

43 Do not defile yourselves by touching them. You must not make yourselves ceremonially unclean because of them.

Leviticus 11:43 Meaning and Commentary

Leviticus 11:43

Ye shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping
thing that creepeth
With any creeping thing that flies in the air, excepting the four sorts of locusts, ( Leviticus 11:22 ) and with any creeping thing in the waters, ( Leviticus 11:10 ) or with anything that creeps on the land, by eating any of them; which being abominable for food, would make the eater of them so to God, he thereby breaking a command of his:

neither shall you make yourselves unclean with them;
by touching and bearing them, as with dead beasts, so with dead flies and the like:

that ye should be defiled thereby;
in a ceremonial sense.

Leviticus 11:43 In-Context

41 “All small animals that scurry along the ground are detestable, and you must never eat them.

42 This includes all animals that slither along on their bellies, as well as those with four legs and those with many feet. All such animals that scurry along the ground are detestable, and you must never eat them.

43 Do not defile yourselves by touching them. You must not make yourselves ceremonially unclean because of them.

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.

45 For I, the LORD, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. Therefore, you must be holy because I am holy.