And if any beast, of which ye may eat, die; he that toucheth the carcase thereof shall be unclean until the even.

And if any beast, of which ye may eat, die; he that toucheth the carcass thereof shall be unclean until the even.

If any beast die, of which it is lawful for you to eat, he that toucheth the carcass thereof, shall be unclean until the evening:

And if any beast which is to you for food die, he that toucheth the carcase thereof shall be unclean until the even.

'And when any of the beasts which are to you for food dieth, he who is coming against its carcase is unclean till the evening;

And if any beast, of which you may eat, die; he that touches the carcass thereof shall be unclean until the even.

And if any beast which may be used for food comes to a natural death, anyone touching its dead body will be unclean till evening.

If any animals will have died, from which it is lawful for you to eat, whoever will have touched its carcass shall be unclean until evening.

Quum autem mortuum fuerit aliquod animal quod sit vobis in cibum, qui tetigerit cadaver ejus, immundus erit usque ad vesperam.

And if any beast of which ye may eat die,.... Any clean beast, as the ox, sheep, goat, deer, &c. what, if rightly killed, is very lawful to eat of; but if it died of itself through any distemper, or was torn by the wild beasts, so the Targum of Jonathan:
he that toucheth the carcass thereof shall be unclean until the even; not the bones, nerves, horns, hoofs, or skin, as Jarchi observes; these might be handled, because some of them, at least, were wrought up into one instrument or another, by artificers, for use and service, but the flesh of them might not be touched; whoever did touch it was ceremonially unclean, and might not go into the sanctuary, or have conversation with men, until the evening of the day in which this was done.

Lastly, contact with edible animals, if they had not been slaughtered, but had died a natural death, and had become carrion in consequence, is also said to defile (cf. Leviticus 11:39, Leviticus 11:40 with Leviticus 11:24-28). This was the case, too, with the eating of the swarming land animals, whether they went upon the belly,
(Note: The large ו in גּחון (Leviticus 11:42) shows that this vav is the middle letter of the Pentateuch.)
as snakes and worms, or upon four feet, as rats, mice, weasels, etc., or upon many feet, like the insects (Leviticus 11:41-43). Lastly (Leviticus 11:44, Leviticus 11:45), the whole law is enforced by an appeal to the calling of the Israelites, as a holy nation, to be holy as Jehovah their God, who had brought them out of Egypt to be a God to them, was holy (Exodus 6:7; Exodus 29:45-46).

If any beast die - Either of itself, or being killed by some wild beast, in which cases the blood was not poured forth, as it was when they were killed by men either for food or sacrifice.