Leviticus 20:25
וְהִבְדַּלְתֶּם בֵּֽין־הַבְּהֵמָה הַטְּהֹרָה לַטְּמֵאָה וּבֵין־הָעוֹף הַטָּמֵא לַטָּהֹר וְלֹֽא־תְשַׁקְּצוּ אֶת־נַפְשֹֽׁתֵיכֶם בַּבְּהֵמָה וּבָעוֹף וּבְכֹל אֲשֶׁר תִּרְמֹשׂ הָֽאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר־הִבְדַּלְתִּי לָכֶם לְטַמֵּֽא׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְהִבְדַּלְתֶּ֞ם בֵּֽין־הַבְּהֵמָ֤ה הַטְּהֹרָה֙ לַטְּמֵאָ֔ה וּבֵין־הָע֥וֹף הַטָּמֵ֖א לַטָּהֹ֑ר וְלֹֽא־תְשַׁקְּצ֨וּ אֶת־נַפְשֹֽׁתֵיכֶ֜ם בַּבְּהֵמָ֣ה וּבָע֗וֹף וּבְכֹל֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר תִּרְמֹ֣שׂ הָֽאֲדָמָ֔ה אֲשֶׁר־הִבְדַּ֥לְתִּי לָכֶ֖ם לְטַמֵּֽא׃
καὶ ἀφοριεῖτε αὐτοὺς ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν κτηνῶν τῶν καθαρῶν καὶ ἀνὰ μέ σὸν τῶν κτηνῶν τῶν ἀκαθάρτων, καὶ ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν πετεινῶν τῶν καθαρῶν καὶ τῶν ἀκαθάρτων· καὶ οὐ βδελύξετε τὰς ψυχὰς ὑμῶν ἐν τοῖς κτήνεσιν καὶ ἐν τοῖς πετεινοῖς καὶ ἐν πᾶσιν τοῖς ἑρπετοῖς τῆς γῆς, ἃ ἐγὼ ἀφώρισα ὑμῖν ἐν ἀκαθαρσίᾳ.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Separate ergo et vos jumentum mundum ab immundo, et avem mundam ab immunda: ne polluatis animas vestras in pecore, et avibus, et cunctis quæ moventur in terra, et quæ vobis ostendi esse polluta.
“‘Por lo tanto, deben hacer una distinción entre los animales puros y los impuros, y entre las aves puras y las impuras. No se vuelvan asquerosos a ustedes mismos por comer algún animal, ave o criatura que se arrastra por el suelo, de los cuales les he dicho que son impuros.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Por tanto, vosotros haréis diferencia entre animal limpio é inmundo, y entre ave inmunda y limpia: y no ensuciéis vuestras personas en los animales, ni en las aves, ni en ninguna cosa que va arrastrando por la tierra, las cuales os he apartado por inmundas.
You are therefore to distinguish between clean and unclean animals and birds. Do not become contaminated by any animal or bird, or by anything that crawls on the ground; I have set these apart as unclean for you.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Leviticus 20:25 instructs the addressees to distinguish between pure and impure animals and birds, and warns them not to make themselves detestable through any animal, bird, or creeping creature that God has separated out as unclean.
Key words
- hiv.dal.Tem ("you will separate", H0914) — hiphil (causative) sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine plural; continues the narrative sequence begun earlier in the chapter, making the addressees the agents who perform the act of division.
- te.ho.Rah ("pure", H2889) and te.me.'Ah ("unclean", H2931) — feminine singular adjectives agreeing with be.he.Mah ("animal", H0929), forming the paired contrast typical of purity classification.
- te.sha.ke.Tzu ("you will make detestable", H8262) — piel (intensive) imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural; the intensive stem marks an active, self-inflicted process of becoming detestable, not a passive state.
- tir.Mos ("it creeps", H7430) — qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular, agreeing with 'a.da.Mah ("ground", H0127G) as its subject; describes ongoing motion of ground-creatures.
- hiv.Dal.ti ("I have separated", H0914) — hiphil perfect, 1st person singular; marks a completed divine action, contrasting with the addressees' own ongoing duty expressed by hiv.dal.Tem earlier in the verse.
What the text says
The verse opens with the narrative vav on hiv.dal.Tem, linking it to prior material and casting the command as a continuation of an established sequence. The verb is hiphil, a causative stem, indicating that the addressees are to actively produce or maintain a separation, not merely observe one that occurs naturally. This separating action is applied twice, using the construct pair bein-...u-vein- ("between... and between"): first for be.he.Mah ("animal", H0929) qualified by te.ho.Rah ("pure", H2889) versus te.me.'Ah ("unclean", H2931), then for 'of ("bird", H5775) with the same adjectival pair in reversed order (ta.Me' unclean before ta.Hor pure).
The second clause shifts to prohibition with lo' ("not", H3808) plus the piel imperfect te.sha.ke.Tzu. The piel stem intensifies the action beyond a simple "detest," suggesting the addressees would actively render themselves detestable — the object marked by 'et falls on naf.sho.tei.Khem ("your selves/persons", H5315I plural construct with 2nd plural suffix), a plural noun for the inner being, not merely the body. The final relative clause uses tir.Mos, a qal imperfect agreeing with the feminine noun 'a.da.Mah ("ground", H0127G), describing creatures that move along the ground. The verse closes by contrasting the addressees' present-tense duty (hiv.dal.Tem, sequential perfect referring to their ongoing task) with God's already-completed action, marked by the perfect hiv.Dal.ti ("I have separated").
Differences between versions
The LXX renders the Hebrew's double bein...u-vein construction ("between the pure animal and the unclean... and between the unclean bird and the pure") with a threefold ἀνὰ μέσον division (clean/unclean cattle, then clean-and-unclean birds together), slightly restructuring the paired contrasts of the Hebrew. The Vulgate's ne polluatis animas vestras ("lest you pollute your souls") renders te.sha.ke.Tzu ("you will make detestable", H8262) with "pollute" rather than the more intensive "detestable" sense carried by the piel stem in Hebrew.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.