Hoof

The parting of the hoof is one of two physical markers — paired with cud-chewing — that the Mosaic food law uses to distinguish clean from unclean land animals.

The Two-Mark Test

Leviticus states the rule positively first: "Whatever parts the hoof, and is clovenfooted, [and] chews the cud, among the beasts, that may you⁺ eat" (Lev 11:3). Both marks must be present. The chapter then catalogs animals that fail one half of the test and remain unclean: the camel, the coney, and the hare chew the cud but do not part the hoof (Lev 11:4-6); the swine parts the hoof and is clovenfooted but does not chew the cud (Lev 11:7). The conclusion ties carcass-touch to flesh-eating: "Of their flesh you⁺ will not eat, and their carcasses you⁺ will not touch; they are unclean to you⁺" (Lev 11:8).

The Deuteronomic Parallel

Deuteronomy frames the same test inside a positive list. After the heading "You will not eat any disgusting thing" (Deut 14:3), the law names the permitted beasts — "the ox, the sheep, and the goat, the hart, and the gazelle, and the roebuck, and the wild goat, and the pygarg, and the antelope, and the chamois" (Deut 14:4-5) — and restates the criterion: "every beast that parts the hoof, and has the hoof cloven in two, [and] chews the cud, among the beasts, that may you⁺ eat" (Deut 14:6). The same camel/hare/coney/swine exclusions follow (Deut 14:7-8), with the swine again singled out as the animal that has the hoof but lacks the cud.