Deuteronomy 14
1 “You [are] sons of your God YHWH; you do not cut yourselves, nor make baldness between your eyes for the dead;
“We are people who belong to Yahweh our God. So, when people die, do not show that you are grieving by gashing/cutting yourselves or by shaving the hair on your foreheads [like the other people-groups do].
2 for you [are] a holy people to your God YHWH, and YHWH has fixed on you to be to Him for a people, a peculiar treasure, out of all the peoples who [are] on the face of the ground.
We belong to Yahweh alone. Yahweh chose us from all the other people-groups on the earth to be his special people.
3 You do not eat any abomination;
“Do not eat anything that [Yahweh] detests.
4 this [is] the beast which you eat: ox, lamb of the sheep, or kid of the goats,
The animals [whose meat] you are permitted to eat are cattle, sheep, goats,
5 deer, and roe, and fallow deer, and wild goat, and ibex, and antelope, and zemer;
deer, gazelles, wild goats, antelopes, and mountain sheep.
6 and every beast dividing the hoof, and cleaving the cleft into two hooves, bringing up the cud, among the beasts—you eat it.
Those are animals that have split hoofs and that also (chew their cuds/regurgitate their food [from their stomachs] to chew it again).
7 Only, this you do not eat, of those bringing up the cud, and of those dividing the cloven hoof: the camel, and the hare, and the hyrax, for they are bringing up the cud, but the hoof has not divided—they [are] unclean to you;
But there are other animals that chew their cuds that you must not eat. Those are camels, rabbits, and rock badgers. They chew their cuds, but their hooves are not split. So they are not acceptable for you to eat.
8 and the sow, for it is dividing the hoof, and not [bringing] up the cud—it [is] unclean to you; you do not eat of their flesh, and you do not come against their carcass.
Do not eat pigs. They are unacceptable for you to eat; their hooves are split, but they do not chew cud. Do not eat the meat of those animals; do not even touch their dead bodies.
9 This you eat of all which [are] in the waters: anything that has fins and scales you eat;
You are permitted to eat any fish that has scales and fins.
10 and anything which does not have fins and scales you do not eat—it [is] unclean to you.
But anything else [that lives in the water] that does not have scales and fins, you must not eat, because [if you eat them], you will become unacceptable [to Yahweh].
11 Any clean bird you eat;
“You are permitted to eat the flesh of any bird that is acceptable [to Yahweh].
12 and these [are] they of which you do not eat: the eagle, and the bearded vulture, and the osprey,
But eagles, vultures, black vultures,
13 and the kite, and the falcon, and the vulture after its kind,
buzzards, all kinds of kites,
14 and every raven after its kind;
all kinds of crows,
15 and the ostrich, and the nightjar [[or male ostrich]], and the seagull, and the hawk after its kind;
ostriches, seagulls,
16 the little owl, and the great owl, and the waterhen,
owls, hawks, falcons,
17 and the pelican, and the Egyptian vulture, and the cormorant,
pelicans, vultures that eat dead animals, cormorants,
18 and the stork, and the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat.
storks, herons, hoopoes, and bats, you must not eat.
19 And every teeming thing which is flying—it [is] unclean to you; they are not eaten;
“All insects with wings [and which walk on the ground] are unacceptable [to Yahweh]; do not eat them.
20 any clean bird you eat.
But other insects with wings [and which hop along the ground] are acceptable to eat.
21 You do not eat of any carcass; you give it to the sojourner who [is] within your gates, and he has eaten it; or sell [it] to a stranger; for you [are] a holy people to your God YHWH. You do not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.
“Do not eat any animal that has died naturally, [because its blood has not been drained out]. You may allow foreigners who live among you to eat those things or you may sell them to other foreigners. But you belong to Yahweh our God; [and those who belong to him are not permitted to eat the meat of animals whose blood has not been drained out]. “You must not cook a young sheep or goat in its mother’s milk.”
22 You certainly tithe all the increase of your seed which the field is bringing forth year by year;
“Once each year you must set apart (a tithe/10 percent) of all the crops that are produced/harvested in your fields.
23 and you have eaten before your God YHWH, in the place where He chooses to cause His Name to dwell, the tithe of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the firstlings of your herd, and of your flock, so that you learn to fear your God YHWH [for] all the days.
Take those things to the place that Yahweh our God will choose [for you to worship him]. There eat the tithes of your grain, your wine, your [olive] oil, and the meat of the firstborn male animals of your cattle and your sheep. Do this in order that you may learn to always revere Yahweh, [the one who has blessed you by giving you these things].
24 And when the way is too much for you, that you are not able to carry it—when the place is too far off from you which your God YHWH chooses to put His Name there, when your God YHWH blesses you—
If the place that Yahweh has chosen [for you to worship him] is very far from your home, with the result that you are not able to take there the tithes [of your crops] with which Yahweh has blessed you, do this:
25 then you have given [it] in money, and have bound up the money in your hand, and gone to the place on which your God YHWH fixes;
Sell [IDM] the tithes of your crops, wrap the money carefully [in a cloth], and take it with you to the place of worship that Yahweh has chosen.
26 and you have given the money for anything which your soul desires, for oxen, and for sheep, and for wine, and for strong drink, and for anything which your soul asks for, and you have eaten before your God YHWH there, and you have rejoiced, you and your house.
There, [with that money], you may buy whatever you want to—beef or lamb or wine or fermented drinks. And there, in the presence of Yahweh, you and your families should eat [and drink] those things and be happy.
27 As for the Levite who [is] within your gates, you do not forsake him, for he has no portion and inheritance with you.
But be sure to not neglect/forget [to help] the descendants of Levi who live in your towns, because they will not own any land.
28 At the end of three years you bring out all the tithe of your increase in that year, and have placed [it] within your gates;
“At the end of every three years, bring a tithe of all your crops that have been produced/harvested in that year and store it in your towns.
29 and the Levite has come in—for he has no part and inheritance with you—and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who [are] within your gates, and they have eaten, and been satisfied, so that your God YHWH blesses you in all the work of your hand which you do.”
That food is for the descendants of Levi, because they do not have their own land, and for foreigners [who live among you], and for orphans and widows who live in your towns. They are permitted to come [to where the food is stored] and take what they need. Do that in order that Yahweh our God will bless you in everything that you do.”
