< Deuteronomy 14 >

1 You are the people of Yahweh your God. Do not cut yourselves, nor shave any part of your face 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 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.
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 must not eat any abominable thing.
No disgusting thing may be your food.
4 These are the animals that you may eat: the ox, the sheep, and 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, and ibex, and the antelope, and the mountain sheep.
The hart, the gazelle, and the roe, the mountain goat and the pygarg and the antelope and the mountain sheep.
6 You may eat any animals that parts the hoof, that is, that has the hoof divided in two, and that chews the cud.
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, 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.
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 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.
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 Of these things that are in water 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 but whatever has no fins and scales you must not eat; they are unclean to you.
But any which have no skin-plates or wings for swimming, you may not take; they are unclean for you.
11 All clean birds you may eat.
All clean birds may be used for food.
12 But these are the birds that you must 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 and black kite, any kind of falcon.
The falcon and the kite, and birds of that sort;
14 You must not eat any kind of raven,
Every raven, and all birds of that sort;
15 and the ostrich, and the night hawk, the sea gull, any kind of hawk,
And the ostrich and the night-hawk and the sea-hawk and birds of that sort;
16 the little owl, the great owl, the white owl,
The little owl and the great owl and the water-hen;
17 the pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant.
And the pelican and the vulture and the cormorant;
18 You must not eat the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat.
The stork and the heron and birds of that sort, and the hoopoe and the bat.
19 All winged, swarming things are unclean to you; they must not be eaten.
Every winged thing which goes flat on the earth is unclean to you and may not be used as food.
20 You may eat all clean flying things.
But all clean birds you may take.
21 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.
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 must surely tithe all the yield of your seed, that which comes out from the field year after year.
Put on one side a tenth of all the increase of your seed, produced year by year.
23 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.
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 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,
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 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.
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 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.
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 The Levite who is within your gates—do not forsake him, 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 will present all the tithe of your produce in the same year, and you will store it up 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 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.
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 >