clean animals, unclean animals

The phrases that are translated as “clean animals” and “unclean animals” in English: The first draft into Maan had “animals not cursed” and “cursed animals,” which did not express correctly the idea of ritually pure and impure animals. So it was changed to “animals accepted by God for sacrifices” and “animals not accepted by God for sacrifices.”

In Kwere it is translated as animals “which are eaten” vs. “which are not eaten”. (Source: Pioneer Bible Translators, project-specific translation notes in Paratext)

Translation commentary on Leviticus 20:25

Therefore: this indicates that what follows is the result of the fact that God had set apart the Israelites and made them different from other peoples. Similarly, they are to differentiate between the ritually clean and unclean animals.

Make a distinction: the same root word as in the previous verse, but in this context it is reasonable to translate it “make a clear separation” (New English Bible) or “separate” (Moffatt). Other languages may use some form of the verb “divide.”

The clean … and the unclean: see 10.10.

Make yourselves abominable: this may be translated as a causative form in certain languages: “cause yourselves to be unacceptable to God” or “make yourselves to be defiled.” The New American Bible rendering of this phrase is “be contaminated by….”

Anything with which the ground teems: the expression found here is very similar to the one used in 11.44 and apparently refers to the creeping or swarming things mentioned several times in chapter 11. New English Bible has “anything that creeps on the ground.” Translators are advised to avoid rendering the idea conveyed by Living Bible with “though the land teem with them,” as if this phrase qualifies the birds and animals already mentioned in this verse.

Quoted with permission from Péter-Contesse, René and Ellington, John. A Handbook on Leviticus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1990. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .