Leviticus 11:5

Summary

The verse identifies the shafan ("rock badger", H8227A) as an animal that chews the cud but does not divide its hoof, and declares it unclean for the addressed group. The classification rests on two physical criteria stated explicitly in the Hebrew text.

Key words

• shafan ("rock badger", H8227A) — definite noun (marked by ha, H9009, and the object marker 'et, H0853), identifying the specific animal under discussion.
• ma'aleh ("bringing up", H5927M) — hiphil participle construct, describing the animal as one who causes cud to come up; the participle form presents this as a characteristic, ongoing trait rather than a single event.
• gerah ("cud", H1625) — feminine singular noun, the object being "brought up," forming a construct relationship with the participle ma'aleh.
• yafris ("it divides in two", H6536) — hiphil imperfect, negated by lo' ("not", H3808); the imperfect aspect marks this as a habitual, unrealized action — the hoof never splits.
• tame' ("unclean", H2931) — masculine singular adjective, the predicate declaring the animal's status, followed by lakhem ("to/for you", H9005+H9036), which frames the classification as directed at the addressed audience.

What the text says

The verse is built around two paired conditions, both introduced by the particle ki ("that/if", H3588A), each expressed as a small clause with its own subject pronoun hu' ("it", H1931). The first clause states that the shafan is one who brings up cud (ma'aleh gerah hu'), using a hiphil participle in construct with the noun gerah; the participle form in Hebrew presents this as an inherent, repeated characteristic of the animal rather than a one-time action. The second clause negates a parallel trait: u-farsah lo' yafris ("and a hoof it does not divide"), using a hiphil imperfect verb yafris with the noun farsah ("hoof", H6541) placed before the verb for emphasis. This structure — noun placed first, then negated verb — highlights the hoof itself as the point of contrast.

The final clause, tame' hu' lakhem ("unclean it [is] to you"), repeats the pronoun hu' from the first clause, tying the classification back to the animal previously named, and adds lakhem ("to you", H9005+H9036), which frames uncleanness as a designation relative to those addressed rather than a description of an inherent, timeless quality on its own.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders shafan (H8227A) as dasypoda ("hare" or similarly a rough-footed animal), while the Vulgate uses choerogryllus, and the Spanish RV1909 translates as "conejo" ("rabbit"); the SBLIBRE and BSB use "tejón"/"rock badger." These represent different identifications of the same Hebrew animal term across translation traditions, without the Hebrew text itself specifying beyond the noun shafan.