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 people of Yahweh your God. Do not cut yourselves, nor shave any part of your face 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 nation that is set apart to Yahweh your God, and Yahweh has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, more than all peoples that are on the surface of the earth.

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

You must not eat any abominable thing.

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

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

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

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

You may eat any animals that parts the hoof, that is, that has the hoof divided in two, and that chews the cud.

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, you must not eat some animals that chew the cud or that have the hoof divided in two: the camel, the rabbit, and the rock badger; because they chew the cud but do not 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 is unclean to you as well because he parts the hoof but does not chew the cud; he is unclean to you. Do not eat pig meat, and do not touch their carcasses.

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

Of these things that are in water 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].

but whatever has no fins and scales you must not eat; they are unclean to you.

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

All clean birds you may eat.

12 But eagles, vultures, black vultures,

But these are the birds that you must not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey,

13 buzzards, all kinds of kites,

the red kite and black kite, any kind of falcon.

14 all kinds of crows,

You must not eat any kind of raven,

15 ostriches, seagulls,

and the ostrich, and the night hawk, the sea gull, any kind of hawk,

16 owls, hawks, falcons,

the little owl, the great owl, the white owl,

17 pelicans, vultures that eat dead animals, cormorants,

the pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant.

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

You must not eat the stork, any kind of heron, 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, swarming things are unclean to you; they must not be eaten.

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

You may eat all clean flying things.

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 must not eat of anything that dies of itself; you may give it to the foreigner who is within your towns, that he may eat it; or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a nation that is set apart to Yahweh your God. You must 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 must surely tithe all the yield of your seed, that which comes out from the field year after 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 must eat before Yahweh your God, in the place that he will choose as his sanctuary, the tithe of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock; that you may learn to always honor Yahweh your God.

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 journey is too long for you so that you are not able to carry it, because the place that Yahweh your God will choose as his sanctuary is too far from you, then, when Yahweh 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.

you will convert the offering into money, tie up the money in your hand, and go to the place that Yahweh your God will 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.

There you will spend the money for whatever you desire: for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever you desire; you will eat there before Yahweh your God, and you will 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.

The Levite who is within your gates—do not forsake him, 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 will present all the tithe of your produce in the same year, and you will store it up 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.”

and the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the foreigner, and the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates, will come and eat and be satisfied. Do this so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hand that you do.