Deuteronomy 14

1 You are the children of the Lord your God: you are not to make cuts on your bodies or take off the hair on your brows in honour of the dead;

You are the children of the Lord your God. Don't mutilate yourselves or shave your forehead like pagans do when they mourn the dead,

2 For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has taken you to be his special people out of all the nations on the face of the earth.

because you are a holy people who belong to the Lord your God. The Lord chose you as his special people out of all the nations on earth.

3 No disgusting thing may be your food.

You must not eat anything repulsive.

4 These are the beasts which you may have for food: the ox, the sheep, and the goat;

These are the animals that you are allowed to eat: cattle, sheep, goats,

5 The hart, the gazelle, and the roe, the mountain goat and the pygarg and the antelope and the mountain sheep.

deer, gazelles, wild goats, antelopes, and mountain sheep.

6 Any beast which has a division in the horn of its foot and whose food comes back into its mouth to be crushed again, may be used for food.

You can eat any animal that both has a divided hoof and also chews the cud.

7 But even among these, there are some which may not be used for food: such as the camel, the hare, and the coney, which are unclean to you, because, though their food comes back, the horn of their feet is not parted in two.

But you are not allowed to eat those that either chew the cud or have a divided hoof. This includes: camels, rabbits, and rock hyraxes. Even though they chew the cud, they don't have a divided hoof. You must treat them as unclean.

8 And the pig is unclean to you, because though it has a division in the horn of its foot, its food does not come back; their flesh may not be used for food or their dead bodies touched by you.

The same applies to the pig. Even though it has a divided hoof, it does not chew the cud. So you must treat it as unclean. You must not eat its meat or touch its dead body.

9 And of the things living in the waters, you may take all those who have wings for swimming with and skins formed of thin plates.

When it comes to creatures that live in the water, you are allowed to eat anything that has fins and scales.

10 But any which have no skin-plates or wings for swimming, you may not take; they are unclean for you.

But you must not eat anything that does not have fins and scales. You must treat them as unclean.

11 All clean birds may be used for food.

You are allowed to eat any clean bird.

12 But these birds you may not take: the eagle and the gier-eagle and the ospray;

But you must not eat the following: eagle, griffon vulture, bearded vulture,

13 The falcon and the kite, and birds of that sort;

buzzard, kites, any kind of falcon,

14 Every raven, and all birds of that sort;

any member of the crow family,

15 And the ostrich and the night-hawk and the sea-hawk and birds of that sort;

tawny owl, long-eared owl, gulls, any kind of hawk,

16 The little owl and the great owl and the water-hen;

little owl, eagle owl, barn owl,

17 And the pelican and the vulture and the cormorant;

desert owl, Egyptian vulture, fish owl,

18 The stork and the heron and birds of that sort, and the hoopoe and the bat.

storks, any kind of heron, hoopoe, or bats.

19 Every winged thing which goes flat on the earth is unclean to you and may not be used as food.

All insects that fly are unclean to you; you must not eat them.

20 But all clean birds you may take.

But you are allowed to eat any clean animal that has wings.

21 You may not have as food anything which has come to a natural death; the man from another country who is living with you may take it for food, or you may get a price for it from one of another nation; for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. The young goat is not to be cooked in its mother's milk.

You must not eat any animal that dies. You can give it to a foreigner in your town, and they can eat it, or you can sell it to a foreigner. You, however, are a holy people who belong to the Lord your God. Don't cook a young goat in its mother's milk.

22 Put on one side a tenth of all the increase of your seed, produced year by year.

Make sure you pay a tithe of every crop grown each year in your fields.

23 And make a feast before the Lord your God, in the place which is to be marked out, where his name will be for ever, of the tenth part of your grain and your wine and your oil, and the first births of your herds and your flocks; so that you may have the fear of the Lord your God in your hearts at all times.

You are to eat a tenth of your grain, new wine, 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 to live with you, so that you will learn to always respect the Lord your God.

24 And if the way is so long that you are not able to take these things to the place marked out by the Lord your God for his name, when he has given you his blessing, because it is far away from you;

However, if it's too far to carry all the tithe that the Lord your God has blessed you with, because the place where the Lord your God will choose to live with you is too distant,

25 Then let these things be exchanged for money, and, taking the money in your hand, go to the place marked out by the Lord your God for himself;

then you can exchange it for money, take the money with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose.

26 And with the money get whatever you have a desire for, oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your soul's desire may be: and make a feast there before the Lord your God, and be glad, you and all your house;

Then you can spend the money on anything you like—cattle, sheep, wine, alcoholic drink, or anything else you want. Then you can have a feast there in the presence of the Lord your God and celebrate with your family.

27 And give a thought to the Levite who is living among you, for he has no part or heritage in the land.

Don't forget to take care of the Levites in your town, because they don't have any share in the allotment of land.

28 At the end of every three years take a tenth part of all your increase for that year, and put it in store inside your walls:

At the end of every third year, collect a tenth of all your produce for that year and store it in your town.

29 And the Levite, because he has no part or heritage in the land, and the man from a strange country, and the child who has no father, and the widow, who are living among you, will come and take food and have enough; and so the blessing of the Lord your God will be on you in everything you do.

This way the Levites (who don't have any share in the allotment of land), the foreigners, the orphans, and the widows in your town will be provided with what they need. The Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.