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14 ¶ Ye are the sons of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves nor make any baldness over your eyes for the dead.

For thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD has chosen thee to be a unique people unto himself from among all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth.

Thou shalt not eat any abominable thing.

These are the animals which ye shall eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat,

the hart and the roebuck and the buffalo and the wild goat and the unicorn (rhinoceros) and the wild ox and the mountain goat,

and every animal that parts the hoof and cleaves the cleft into two claws and chews the cud among the beasts that ye shall eat.

Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of those that chew the cud or of those that divide the cloven hoof: the camel and the hare and the coney, for they chew the cud, but do not divide the hoof; therefore they are unclean unto you;

and the swine, because it divides the hoof, yet does not chew the cud, it is unclean unto you. Ye shall not eat of their flesh nor touch their dead carcase.

These ye shall eat of all that are in the waters: all that have fins and scales shall ye eat,

10 but whatever does not have fins and scales ye may not eat; it is unclean unto you.

11 Of all clean birds ye shall eat.

12 But these are they of which ye shall not eat: the eagle and the ossifrage and the ospray

13 and the glede and the kite and the vulture after his kind

14 and every raven after his kind

15 and the owl and the night hawk and the cuckow and the hawk after his kind

16 the little owl and the great owl and the swan

17 and the pelican and the gier eagle and the cormorant

18 and the stork and the heron after her kind and the lapwing and the bat.

19 And every serpent that flies shall be unclean unto you; they shall not be eaten.

20 But of all clean fowls ye may eat.

21 Ye shall not eat of any thing that died of itself; thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates that he may eat it, or thou may sell it unto an alien; for thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not cook a kid in his mother’s milk.

22 ¶ Thou shalt without fail tithe all the increase of thy seed that thy field brings forth each year.

23 And thou shalt eat before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose for his name to dwell, the tithe of thy grain, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the firstborn of thy cows and of thy sheep, that thou may learn to fear the LORD thy God always.

24 And if the way is too long for thee, so that thou art not able to carry it, or if the place is too far from thee, which the LORD thy God shall choose to set his name there, when the LORD thy God has blessed thee,

25 then shalt thou sell it for money and bind up the money in thy hand and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose;

26 and thou shalt give that money for whatever thy soul desires, for cows or for sheep or for wine or for strong drink or for whatever thy soul desires; and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou and thine household.

27 And thou shalt not forsake the Levite that dwells within thy gates, for he has no part nor inheritance with thee.

28 At the end of three years thou shalt bring forth all the tithe of thine increase the same year and shalt lay it up within thy gates.

29 And the Levite, who has no part nor inheritance with thee, and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow who are within thy gates, shall come and shall eat and be satisfied, that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hands which thou doest.

Clean and Unclean Food(A)

14 You are the children(B) of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead, for you are a people holy(C) to the Lord your God.(D) Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession.(E)

Do not eat any detestable thing.(F) These are the animals you may eat:(G) the ox, the sheep, the goat,(H) the deer,(I) the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat,(J) the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep.[a] You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud. However, of those that chew the cud or that have a divided hoof you may not eat the camel, the rabbit or the hyrax. Although they chew the cud, they do not have a divided hoof; they are ceremonially unclean for you. The pig is also unclean; although it has a divided hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses.(K)

Of all the creatures living in the water, you may eat any that has fins and scales. 10 But anything that does not have fins and scales you may not eat; for you it is unclean.

11 You may eat any clean bird. 12 But these you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, 13 the red kite, the black kite, any kind(L) of falcon,(M) 14 any kind of raven,(N) 15 the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, 16 the little owl, the great owl, the white owl, 17 the desert owl,(O) the osprey, the cormorant, 18 the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.

19 All flying insects are unclean to you; do not eat them. 20 But any winged creature that is clean you may eat.(P)

21 Do not eat anything you find already dead.(Q) You may give it to the foreigner residing in any of your towns, and they may eat it, or you may sell it to any other foreigner. But you are a people holy to the Lord your God.(R)

Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.(S)

Tithes

22 Be sure to set aside a tenth(T) of all that your fields produce each year. 23 Eat(U) the tithe of your grain, new wine(V) and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name,(W) so that you may learn(X) to revere(Y) the Lord your God always. 24 But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the Lord your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the Lord will choose to put his Name is so far away), 25 then exchange(Z) your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose. 26 Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink,(AA) or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice.(AB) 27 And do not neglect the Levites(AC) living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.(AD)

28 At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes(AE) of that year’s produce and store it in your towns,(AF) 29 so that the Levites (who have no allotment(AG) or inheritance(AH) of their own) and the foreigners,(AI) the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied,(AJ) and so that the Lord your God may bless(AK) you in all the work of your hands.

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 14:5 The precise identification of some of the birds and animals in this chapter is uncertain.