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.

“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 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.

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

3 You shall not eat any abominable thing.

“Do not eat anything that [Yahweh] detests.

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

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

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

deer, gazelles, wild goats, antelopes, and 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.

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

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 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 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.

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

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

10 You shall not eat whatever doesn’t have fins and scales. 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 Of all clean birds you may eat.

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

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

But eagles, vultures, black vultures,

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

buzzards, all kinds of kites,

14 every raven of any kind,

all kinds of crows,

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

ostriches, seagulls,

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

owls, hawks, falcons,

17 the pelican, the vulture, the cormorant,

pelicans, vultures that eat dead animals, cormorants,

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

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

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

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

20 Of all clean birds you may eat.

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

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.

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

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 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,

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

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 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.

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 You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no portion nor 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 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, bring a tithe of all your crops that have been produced/harvested in that year and store it in your towns.

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.

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.”