Hybridizing

The mingling of distinct kinds — in livestock, in crops, in cloth — is forbidden under the holiness statutes given to Israel.

The Prohibition

The single command stands within the holiness code of Leviticus 19, embedded in a string of statutes that begin "You⁺ will keep my statutes": "You⁺ will keep my statutes. You will not let your cattle gender with a diverse kind: you will not sow your field with two kinds of seed: neither will there come upon you a garment of two kinds of stuff mingled together" (Lev 19:19).

The three clauses cover three domains — animal breeding, sowing, and weaving — and each names a mingling of kinds rather than the use of any one kind by itself. The prohibition addresses the act of crossing distinct categories, not the things themselves.