< Deuteronomy 14 >
1 “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 We belong to Yahweh alone. Yahweh chose us from all the other people-groups on the earth to be his special people.
3 “Do not eat anything that [Yahweh] detests.
4 The animals [whose meat] you are permitted to eat are cattle, sheep, goats,
5 deer, gazelles, wild goats, antelopes, and mountain sheep.
6 Those are animals that have split hoofs and that also (chew their cuds/regurgitate their food [from their stomachs] to chew it again).
7 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 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 You are permitted to eat any fish that has scales and fins.
10 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 “You are permitted to eat the flesh of any bird that is acceptable [to Yahweh].
12 But eagles, vultures, black vultures,
13 buzzards, all kinds of kites,
14 all kinds of crows,
15 ostriches, seagulls,
16 owls, hawks, falcons,
17 pelicans, vultures that eat dead animals, cormorants,
18 storks, herons, hoopoes, and bats, you must not eat.
19 “All insects with wings [and which walk on the ground] are unacceptable [to Yahweh]; do not eat them.
20 But other insects with wings [and which hop along the ground] are acceptable to eat.
21 “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 “Once each year you must set apart (a tithe/10 percent) of all the crops that are produced/harvested in your fields.
23 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.”
