Leviticus 22:8

Summary

Leviticus 22:8 prohibits eating an animal that died naturally (nevelah, "a carcass", H5038) or was killed by a predator (terefah, "a torn animal", H2966), stating that doing so results in ritual uncleanness. The verse closes with the self-identification formula "I am Yehovah."

Key words

• nevelah ("a carcass", H5038) — feminine singular noun designating an animal that died of itself, not by slaughter.
• terefah ("a torn animal", H2966) — feminine singular noun designating an animal killed or mauled by a wild beast; paired with nevelah via the conjunction u- ("and", H9002).
• yokhal ("he will eat", H0398) — qal imperfect, third person masculine singular, expressing a general prohibition ("he shall not eat") rather than addressing a plural group directly.
• tame'ah ("become unclean", H2930A) — qal infinitive, joined to the preposition le- ("to", H9005), expressing the resulting state ("so as to become unclean") that follows from the forbidden act.
• ani Yehovah ("I [am] Yehovah", H0589 + H3068G) — the closing self-identification formula, pairing the independent personal pronoun with the divine name.

What the text says

The sentence places the two forbidden categories, nevelah and terefah, at the head of the clause, before the verb yokhal. This word order foregrounds the object of prohibition rather than the subject or action. The verb itself is a third-person masculine singular imperfect, which in Hebrew prohibitive syntax (negation lo', H3808, plus imperfect) functions as a general, ongoing legal prohibition — "he shall not eat," applicable to the addressee in a generalized sense rather than a single specified individual.

The clause le-tame'ah-bah combines the preposition le- with the infinitive tame'ah and the pronominal suffix -bah ("by it," referring back to the feminine nevelah/terefah). This construction expresses consequence: eating the forbidden meat results "in becoming unclean by it." The infinitive here denotes the state reached through the forbidden action, not a separate command.

The verse ends with the formula ani Yehovah, consisting of the independent pronoun ani and the divine name, without a copula verb (Hebrew has no "to be" in the present tense), so the phrase is rendered by translations as "I am Yehovah" or "I am the LORD."

Differences between versions

The Hebrew verb yokhal is singular ("he will eat"), matching the BSB ("he must not eat") and SBLIBRE ("no debe comer"). The Vulgate instead uses plural forms, "comedent" ("they shall eat") and "polluentur" ("they shall be polluted"), diverging from the singular number found in the Hebrew text. The LXX renders the infinitive clause as μιανθῆναι αὐτὸν ("that he be defiled"), keeping the singular referent (αὐτὸν) consistent with the Hebrew suffix -bah/its referent, unlike the Vulgate's plural formulation.