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].

You are the children of the LORD your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.

2 We belong to Yahweh alone. Yahweh chose us from all the other people-groups on the earth to be his special people.

For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.

3 “Do not eat anything that [Yahweh] detests.

You shall not eat any abominable thing.

4 The animals [whose meat] you are permitted to eat are cattle, sheep, goats,

These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,

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

the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the chamois.

6 Those are animals that have split hoofs and that also (chew their cuds/regurgitate their food [from their stomachs] to chew it again).

Every animal that parts the hoof, and has the hoof split in two and chews the cud, amongst the animals, you may eat.

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.

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.

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.

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.

9 You are permitted to eat any fish that has scales and fins.

These you may eat of all that are in the waters: you may eat whatever has fins and scales.

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].

You shall not eat whatever doesn’t have fins and scales. It is unclean to you.

11 “You are permitted to eat the flesh of any bird that is acceptable [to Yahweh].

Of all clean birds you may eat.

12 But eagles, vultures, black vultures,

But these are they of which you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey,

13 buzzards, all kinds of kites,

the red kite, the falcon, the kite of any kind,

14 all kinds of crows,

every raven of any kind,

15 ostriches, seagulls,

the ostrich, the owl, the seagull, the hawk of any kind,

16 owls, hawks, falcons,

the little owl, the great owl, the horned owl,

17 pelicans, vultures that eat dead animals, cormorants,

the pelican, the vulture, the cormorant,

18 storks, herons, hoopoes, and bats, you must not eat.

the stork, the heron after its kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.

19 “All insects with wings [and which walk on the ground] are unacceptable [to Yahweh]; do not eat them.

All winged creeping things are unclean to you. They shall not be eaten.

20 But other insects with wings [and which hop along the ground] are acceptable to eat.

Of all clean birds you may 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.”

You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself. You may give it to the foreigner living amongst 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 the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young 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.

You shall surely tithe all the increase of your seed, that which comes out of the field year by year.

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].

You shall eat before the LORD 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 the LORD your God always.

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:

If the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry it because the place which the LORD your God shall choose to set his name there is too far from you, when the LORD your God blesses you,

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.

then you shall turn it into money, bind up the money in your hand, and shall go to the place which the LORD your God shall choose.

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.

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 the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.

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.

You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no portion nor inheritance with you.

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.

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.

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.”

The Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, as well as the foreigner living amongst you, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.