Leviticus 11:31 (LSB)

Passage

These are to you the unclean among all the swarming things; whoever touches them when they are dead becomes unclean until evening.

Nearby Context

Leviticus 11:29 ‘Now these are to you the unclean among the swarming things which swarm on the earth: the mole and the mouse and the great lizard in its kinds,

Leviticus 11:30 and the gecko and the crocodile and the lizard and the sand reptile and the chameleon.

Leviticus 11:31 These are to you the unclean among all the swarming things; whoever touches them when they are dead becomes unclean until evening.

Leviticus 11:32 Also anything on which one of them may fall when they are dead becomes unclean, including any wooden article or clothing or a skin or a sack—any article by which work is done—it shall be put in the water and be unclean until evening, then it becomes clean.

Leviticus 11:33 As for any earthenware vessel into which one of them may fall, whatever is in it becomes unclean, and you shall break the vessel.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "unclean", "swarming", "things", "whoever", "touches", "dead", and "becomes". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "unclean" and "swarming", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 30's "and the gecko and the crocodile and..." into verse 32's "Also anything on which one of them...", so "unclean" and "swarming" belong inside that flow. In Leviticus context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "unclean" and "swarming" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.