14 “You are children[a] of Yahweh your God; therefore you must not gash[b] yourself, and you must not make your forehead bald[c] for the dead. 2 For you are a people holy to Yahweh your God, and you Yahweh has chosen to be a treasured possession from among all of the peoples that are on the surface[d] of the earth.
3 You shall not eat any detestable thing. 4 These are the animals you may eat: ox, sheep, goats,[e] 5 deer, gazelle, roebuck, wild goat, ibex, antelope, and mountain sheep. 6 And any animal having a split hoof[f] and so a dividing of the hoof into two parts[g] and that chews the cud[h] among the animals[i]—that animal you may eat. 7 Only these you may not eat from those chewing the cud[j] and from those having a division of the hoof:[k] the camel and the hare and the coney, because they chew the cud,[l] but they do not divide the hoof; they are therefore unclean for you. 8 And also the pig because it has a division of the hoof[m] but does not chew the cud;[n] it is unclean for you; from their meat you shall not eat, and you shall not touch their carcasses.[o]
9 “This is what you shall eat from all that is in the water: everything[p] that has fins and scales[q] you may eat. 10 But anything that does not have[r] fins and scales, you may not eat, for it is unclean for you.
11 “All of the birds that are clean you may eat. 12 Now these are the ones you shall not eat any of them:[s] the eagle and the vulture and the short-toed eagle,[t] 13 and the red kite[u] and the black kite or any kind of falcon,[v] 14 and any kind of crow[w] according to its kind, 15 and the ostrich[x] and the short-eared owl and the seagull[y] and the hawk according to its kind, 16 the little owl and the great owl and the barn owl,[z] 17 and the desert owl[aa] and the carrion vulture[ab] and the cormorant,[ac] 18 and the stork and the heron according to its kind and the hoopoe and the bat. 19 And also all of the winged insects;[ad] they are unclean for you; you shall not eat them. 20 You may eat any clean bird.
21 “You shall not eat any carcass;[ae] you may give it to the alien who is in your towns,[af] and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people for Yahweh your God; you may not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.
22 “Certainly you must give a tithe of all the yield of your seed, which comes forth from your field year after year.[ag] 23 And you shall eat before[ah] Yahweh your God in the place that he will choose to make to dwell his name there the tithe of your grain, your wine and your olive oil and the firstling of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to revere Yahweh your God always.[ai] 24 But if the distance is too great for you,[aj] so that you are not able to transport[ak] it, because the place that Yahweh your God will choose to set his name there, it is too far from you, when Yahweh your God will bless you, 25 then in that case you may exchange for money,[al] and you shall take[am] the money to your hand and go to the place that Yahweh your God will choose. 26 You may spend the money for anything that you desire,[an] for oxen or for sheep or for wine or for strong drink or for anything that you desire,[ao] and you shall eat it there before[ap] Yahweh your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. 27 And as to the Levite who is in your towns,[aq] you shall not neglect him, because there is not a plot of ground for him and an inheritance along with you.
28 “At the end of three years you shall bring out all of the tithe of your yield for that year, and you shall store it in your towns.[ar] 29 And so the Levite may come, because there is no plot of ground for him or an inheritance with you, and the alien also may come and the orphan and the widow that are in your towns,[as] and they may eat their fill,[at] so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all of the work of your hand that you undertake.”
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 14:1 Or “sons”
- Deuteronomy 14:1 Or “cut”
- Deuteronomy 14:1 Literally “you shall not make/place baldness between your eyes”
- Deuteronomy 14:2 Or “face”
- Deuteronomy 14:4 Literally “small livestock of the sheep and a small livestock of the goats”
- Deuteronomy 14:6 Or “divides the hoof”
- Deuteronomy 14:6 Literally “a dividing cleft creating two hoofs”
- Deuteronomy 14:6 Literally “and that brings up the cud”
- Deuteronomy 14:6 Hebrew “animal”
- Deuteronomy 14:7 Literally “bringing up the cud”
- Deuteronomy 14:7 Literally “those having a division of the hoof divided”
- Deuteronomy 14:7 Literally “they bringing up of the cud”
- Deuteronomy 14:8 Literally “because a division of the hoof”
- Deuteronomy 14:8 Literally “but not a chewing cud”
- Deuteronomy 14:8 Literally “dead body”
- Deuteronomy 14:9 Literally “all of that”
- Deuteronomy 14:9 Literally “for it is fins and scales,” showing possession of these features
- Deuteronomy 14:10 Literally “all of that there is not for it,” showing lack of possession of these features
- Deuteronomy 14:12 Literally “from them”
- Deuteronomy 14:12 This list of birds is difficult to translate since the terms are not definitely known: e.g., some translations render the last bird as a “buzzard” (NASV); other translations give different names for all three: griffon vulture, black vulture, bearded vulture (NEB)
- Deuteronomy 14:13 Various options are available: large bird, kite, red kite, glede, buzzard
- Deuteronomy 14:13 Literally “or the falcon according to its kind”; other options for falcon: bird, falcon, kite (others as carrion-bird), vulture, crow or raven, buzzard
- Deuteronomy 14:14 Or others translate as “raven”
- Deuteronomy 14:15 Literally “daughter of the ostrich”; others “desert owl”
- Deuteronomy 14:15 Or “long-eared owl”
- Deuteronomy 14:16 Or “white owl”
- Deuteronomy 14:17 Or “large bird” or “horned-owl”
- Deuteronomy 14:17 Or “large bird”
- Deuteronomy 14:17 Or “large bird,” or “fisher-owl”
- Deuteronomy 14:19 Literally “the swarmers of the flyers” or “all the swarms of things that fly”
- Deuteronomy 14:21 Or “corpse”
- Deuteronomy 14:21 Literally “gates”
- Deuteronomy 14:22 Literally “the going forth of the field year by year”
- Deuteronomy 14:23 Literally “before the faces of”
- Deuteronomy 14:23 Literally “all of the days”
- Deuteronomy 14:24 Literally “it is great from you the journey that”
- Deuteronomy 14:24 Or “carry”
- Deuteronomy 14:25 Literally “you may give it in for the money/silver”
- Deuteronomy 14:25 Or “bind”
- Deuteronomy 14:26 Literally “that your soul/inner self desires”
- Deuteronomy 14:26 Literally “that your soul/inner self desires”
- Deuteronomy 14:26 Literally “to the face of”
- Deuteronomy 14:27 Literally “gates”
- Deuteronomy 14:28 Literally “gates”
- Deuteronomy 14:29 Literally “gates”
- Deuteronomy 14:29 Literally “they may eat and they may be satisfied”