Leviticus 11:39

Summary

This verse establishes a rule of ritual impurity concerning animals that are permitted as food but die of natural causes (not by slaughter). Anyone who touches the carcass of such an animal becomes unclean until evening.

Key words

• behemah ("livestock", H0929) — feminine singular noun referring to the animal in question, specified by the relative clause as one permitted for eating.
• okhlah ("food", H0402) — feminine singular noun forming the phrase "for food," defining which animals fall under this law.
• noge'a ("touches", H5060) — qal participle, masculine singular; participles in Hebrew describe an ongoing or characteristic action, here identifying "the one who touches" as a category of person rather than a single event.
• nivlatah ("its carcass", H5038) — feminine singular noun in construct form with a pronominal suffix ("her/its"), linking the carcass directly to the animal mentioned earlier.
• yitma' ("he will be unclean", H2930A) — qal imperfect, third person masculine singular, expressing the resulting state that follows the act of touching.

What the text says

The verse opens with the conditional particle khi ("if", H3588A), introducing a hypothetical case: an animal from the category of behemah ("livestock", H0929) dies. The relative clause asher hi lakhem le-okhlah ("which it is to you for food") restricts this law specifically to animals that belong to the group permitted for consumption — this connects the verse to the preceding dietary regulations rather than establishing a general rule for all animal deaths.

The second half of the verse shifts to the consequence. The subject is expressed through the participle ha-noge'a ("the one touching", H5060), a grammatical form that functions almost like a noun ("the toucher") rather than describing a single completed action. This participle is followed by be-nivlatah ("in its carcass"), where the noun nivlah ("carcass", H5038) appears in construct form with the third-person feminine suffix, grammatically tying the carcass back to the behemah mentioned earlier. The result of this contact is stated with the imperfect verb yitma' ("he will be unclean", H2930A), and the duration of this state is limited by the temporal phrase ad ha-arev ("until the evening").

Differences between versions

The Vulgate renders the conditional clause with si mortuum fuerit animal, quod licet vobis comedere ("if the animal which you are permitted to eat shall have died"), making explicit the permissibility (licet) that in the Hebrew is expressed more simply through the phrase "which it is to you for food." The LXX similarly renders the qualifying clause as ho estin hymin touto phagein ("which is to you this to eat"), preserving the same restrictive sense as the Hebrew relative clause without additional legal vocabulary.