Leviticus 11:6

Summary

The verse addresses the hare/rabbit as an animal that chews the cud but does not have a divided hoof, and on this basis declares it unclean for the addressees. It continues the list of land animals in Leviticus 11 that fail one of the two required criteria (cud-chewing and split hooves) for being edible.

Key words

• 'ar.Ne.vet ("hare", H0768) — feminine singular noun, the subject animal under discussion, marked with the definite article and the direct object marker 'et.
• ma.'a.Lat ("bringing up", H5927M) — hiphil participle, feminine singular, construct form ("one who brings up X"); the participle expresses an ongoing characteristic (habitual cud-chewing) rather than a single completed act.
• ge.Rah ("cud", H1625) — the object of the participle ma.'a.Lat, forming the construct phrase "bringer-up of cud."
• hif.Ri.sah ("it divides in two", H6536) — hiphil perfect, third feminine singular; unlike the participle in line 6, this is a finite perfect verb, describing the (non-)occurrence of the hoof-dividing action as a completed fact, negated by lo' ("not", H3808).
• hi' ("it/she", H1931) — the feminine personal pronoun appears twice, once after the cud clause and once after the "unclean" declaration, each time reinforcing the feminine grammatical subject (the 'ar.Ne.vet).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built in two parallel clauses joined by ki ("that/if", H3588A), each stating one physical trait of the animal, followed by the verdict. The first clause uses the participle ma.'a.Lat in construct with ge.Rah, literally "bringer-up of cud is she" — a participial construction that presents cud-chewing as a continuous, defining habit of the animal rather than a one-time event. The second clause switches to a finite perfect verb, hifrisah, negated by lo', stating flatly that the hoof-dividing action did not occur/is not the case. This shift from participle (ongoing trait) to perfect (completed/negated fact) is a grammatical nuance not visible in translation: the animal habitually chews cud, but categorically lacks a split hoof. The verdict teme'ah hi' ("unclean is she") repeats the pronoun hi' structure from the first clause, tying the classification directly back to the animal's grammatical identity as feminine subject. The final phrase lakhem ("to/for you", H9005+H9036) situates the uncleanness relationally, as a status "for you" (the addressees), not as an absolute cosmic property.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the Hebrew 'ar.Ne.vet ("hare", H0768) as choirogryllion, a term describing a different rock-dwelling creature, where the Hebrew specifies the hare. The Vulgate uses lepus ("hare"), matching the Hebrew identification more closely than the LXX's term.