Leviticus 11:6 names the hare as an unclean animal for Israel, and the reason given is that it chews the cud but does not have a divided hoof. God, speaking through Moses to the people of Israel, sets out which land animals they may eat and which they must avoid, and the hare falls on the forbidden side of that line. The verse is a piece of Israel’s dietary law, not a comment on the character of hares.
The hare, because she chews the cud but doesn’t part the hoof, she is unclean to you.
Leviticus 11:6 (WEB)
What Leviticus 11:6 Means
The verse works by a test with two parts. An animal that eats the land’s food was considered clean for Israel only when it both chewed the cud and had a fully split hoof. The hare meets the first condition but fails the second, so the text calls it unclean. The word “unclean” here describes a ritual status that set the animal apart from food the people could eat, which is different from calling it sinful or ugly.
The verse explains the reason for the verdict, which is an unusual feature of Levitical law. Each animal is judged against the same pattern, and the reasoning is stated in plain terms so that the people could recognize the rule and apply it to new cases. The passage gives no moral lesson about hares, and it does not say that hares suffer from God’s displeasure. It only marks a boundary for what could be eaten.
What the verse does not promise is any spiritual reward or punishment tied to hare meat. It also does not claim that the hare was unhealthy or dangerous in a general sense. Its purpose is to define holiness in the daily act of eating, reminding Israel that God had set them apart and that their everyday choices reflected that distinction.
The Context of Leviticus 11:6
Leviticus is the third book of the Pentateuch, traditionally attributed to Moses. It is written as instruction given to the priests and the people of Israel after the exodus from Egypt, while they were camped at Sinai. Chapter 11 belongs to a larger section on clean and unclean matters, and its audience is the whole covenant community that was learning how to live as God’s holy people.
The verses just before and after show the logic of the list. Verse 3 gives the general rule that animals with a divided hoof and that chew the cud may be eaten, and verse 4 then introduces the exceptions, beginning with the camel. The hare appears in verse 6 as the third example of an exception, and the pig follows in verse 7 as the next, which has the divided hoof but not the cud. Read this way, the hare is one case in a deliberate pattern, and the verse makes sense only as part of that pattern.
Key Phrases in Leviticus 11:6
Acts 10:15
A voice came to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call unclean.”
(WEB)
This verse records God’s words to Peter in a vision that declared foods once considered unclean to be clean. It shows the New Testament shift in how God’s people relate to the old dietary categories, which helps readers understand why Leviticus 11:6 no longer governs Christian eating.
Mark 7:19
Because it doesn’t go into his heart, but into his stomach, then into the latrine, thus purifying all foods?”
(WEB)
Jesus’ teaching in this passage explains that food does not defile a person from within. Read alongside Leviticus 11:6, it helps you see that the Old Testament purity laws pointed toward a deeper concern with the heart.
A Short Prayer From Leviticus 11:6
Lord, you made distinctions in the law of Moses so that your people would know they belonged to you. Some of those commands are hard for me to understand, and I confess that I often want to measure your holiness by my own standards. Teach me to receive your Word as it is given, and to trust your wisdom even where I do not see the reason right away. Help my choices reflect the whole of who you are, and keep me faithful in the small decisions of each day. Thank you for the way you have revealed yourself through Christ, who fulfilled the law and made a new way for me. Amen.
