< Deuteronomy 14 >

1 You are the children of Yahweh your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
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;
2 For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God, and Yahweh has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.
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.
3 You shall not eat any abominable thing.
No disgusting thing may be your food.
4 These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,
These are the beasts which you may have for food: the ox, the sheep, and the goat;
5 the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the chamois.
The hart, the gazelle, and the roe, the mountain goat and the pygarg and the antelope and the mountain sheep.
6 Every animal that parts the hoof, and has the hoof split in two and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat.
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.
7 Nevertheless these you shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of those who have the hoof split: the camel, the hare, and the rabbit. Because they chew the cud but don’t part the hoof, they are unclean to you.
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.
8 The pig, because it has a split hoof but doesn’t chew the cud, is unclean to you. You shall not eat their meat. You shall not touch their carcasses.
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.
9 These you may eat of all that are in the waters: you may eat whatever has fins and scales.
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.
10 You shall not eat whatever doesn’t have fins and scales. It is unclean to you.
But any which have no skin-plates or wings for swimming, you may not take; they are unclean for you.
11 Of all clean birds you may eat.
All clean birds may be used for food.
12 But these are they of which you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey,
But these birds you may not take: the eagle and the gier-eagle and the ospray;
13 the red kite, the falcon, the kite of any kind,
The falcon and the kite, and birds of that sort;
14 every raven of any kind,
Every raven, and all birds of that sort;
15 the ostrich, the owl, the seagull, the hawk of any kind,
And the ostrich and the night-hawk and the sea-hawk and birds of that sort;
16 the little owl, the great owl, the horned owl,
The little owl and the great owl and the water-hen;
17 the pelican, the vulture, the cormorant,
And the pelican and the vulture and the cormorant;
18 the stork, the heron after its kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.
The stork and the heron and birds of that sort, and the hoopoe and the bat.
19 All winged creeping things are unclean to you. They shall not be eaten.
Every winged thing which goes flat on the earth is unclean to you and may not be used as food.
20 Of all clean birds you may eat.
But all clean birds you may take.
21 You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself. You may give it to the foreigner living among you who is within your gates, that he may eat it; or you may sell it to a foreigner; for you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
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.
22 You shall surely tithe all the increase of your seed, that which comes out of the field year by year.
Put on one side a tenth of all the increase of your seed, produced year by year.
23 You shall eat before Yahweh your God, in the place which he chooses to cause his name to dwell, the tithe of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock; that you may learn to fear Yahweh your God always.
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.
24 If the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry it because the place which Yahweh your God shall choose to set his name there is too far from you, when Yahweh your God blesses you,
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;
25 then you shall turn it into money, bind up the money in your hand, and shall go to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose.
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;
26 You shall trade the money for whatever your soul desires: for cattle, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever your soul asks of you. You shall eat there before Yahweh your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.
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;
27 You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no portion nor inheritance with you.
And give a thought to the Levite who is living among you, for he has no part or heritage in the land.
28 At the end of every three years you shall bring all the tithe of your increase in the same year, and shall store it within your gates.
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:
29 The Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, as well as the foreigner living among you, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.
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.

< Deuteronomy 14 >