Deuteronomy 14

1 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,

'Sons ye [are] to Jehovah your God; ye do not cut yourselves, nor make baldness between your eyes for the dead;

2 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.

for a holy people [art] thou to Jehovah thy God, and on thee hath Jehovah fixed to be to Him for a people, a peculiar treasure, out of all the peoples who [are] on the face of the ground.

3 You must not eat anything repulsive.

'Thou dost not eat any abominable thing;

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

'this [is] the beast which ye do eat: ox, lamb of the sheep, or kid of the goats,

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

hart, and roe, and fallow deer, and wild goat, and pygarg, and wild ox, and chamois;

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

and every beast dividing the hoof, and cleaving the cleft into two hoofs, bringing up the cud, among the beasts — it ye do eat.

7 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.

'Only, this ye do not eat, of those bringing up the cud, and of those dividing the cloven hoof: the camel, and the hare, and the rabbit, for they are bringing up the cud but the hoof have not divided; unclean they [are] to you;

8 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.

and the sow, for it is dividing the hoof, and not [bringing] up the cud, unclean it [is] to you; of their flesh ye do not eat, and against their carcase ye do not come.

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

'This ye do eat of all that [are] in the waters; all that hath fins and scales ye do eat;

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

and anything which hath not fins and scales ye do not eat; unclean it [is] to you.

11 You are allowed to eat any clean bird.

'Any clean bird ye do eat;

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

and these [are] they of which ye do not eat: the eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray,

13 buzzard, kites, any kind of falcon,

and the glede, and the kite, and the vulture after its kind,

14 any member of the crow family,

and every raven after its kind;

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

and the owl, and the night-hawk, and the cuckoo, and the hawk after its kind;

16 little owl, eagle owl, barn owl,

the [little] owl, and the [great] owl, and the swan,

17 desert owl, Egyptian vulture, fish owl,

and the pelican, and the gier-eagle, and the cormorant,

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

and the stork, and the heron after its kind, and the lapwing, and the bat;

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

and every teeming thing which is flying, unclean it [is] to you; they are not eaten;

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

any clean fowl ye do eat.

21 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.

'Ye do not eat of any carcase; to the sojourner who [is] within thy gates thou dost give it, and he hath eaten it; or sell [it] to a stranger; for a holy people thou [art] to Jehovah thy God; thou dost not boil a kid in its mother's milk.

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

'Thou dost certainly tithe all the increase of thy seed which the field is bringing forth year by year;

23 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.

and thou hast eaten before Jehovah thy God, in the place where He doth choose to cause His name to tabernacle, the tithe of thy corn, of thy new wine, and of thine oil, and the firstlings of thy herd, and of thy flock, so that thou dost learn to fear Jehovah thy God all the days.

24 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,

'And when the way is too much for thee, that thou art not able to carry it — when the place is too far off from thee which Jehovah thy God doth choose to put His name there, when Jehovah thy God doth bless thee; —

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

then thou hast given [it] in money, and hast bound up the money in thy hand, and gone unto the place on which Jehovah thy God doth fix;

26 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.

and thou hast given the money for any thing which thy soul desireth, for oxen, and for sheep, and for wine, and for strong drink, and for any thing which thy soul asketh, and thou hast eaten there before Jehovah thy God, and thou hast rejoiced, thou and thy house.

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

As to the Levite who [is] within thy gates, thou dost not forsake him, for he hath no portion and inheritance with thee.

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

'At the end of three years thou dost bring out all the tithe of thine increase in that year, and hast placed [it] within thy gates;

29 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.

and come in hath the Levite (for he hath no part and inheritance with thee), and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who [are] within thy gates, and they have eaten, and been satisfied, so that Jehovah thy God doth bless thee in all the work of thy hand which thou dost.