Deuteronomy 14
14
Israel, God’s Special People
1“You are the children of the Lord your God. When someone dies, you must not cut yourselves or shave your heads#14:1 shave your heads Literally, “shave between your eyes.” to show your sadness. 2This is because you are different from other people. You belong to the Lord your God. From all the people in the world, the Lord chose you to be his own special people.
Food the Israelites Are Allowed to Eat
3“Don’t eat anything that the Lord hates. 4You may eat these animals: cattle, sheep, goats, 5deer, gazelles, roe deer, wild sheep, wild goats, antelopes, and mountain sheep. 6You may eat any animal that has hooves divided into two parts and that chews the cud. 7But don’t eat camels, rabbits, or rock badgers. These animals chew the cud, but they don’t have split hooves. So these animals are not a clean food for you. 8And you must not eat pigs. Their hooves are divided, but they don’t chew the cud. So pigs are not a clean food for you. Don’t eat any meat from pigs. Don’t even touch a pig’s dead body.
9“You may eat any kind of fish that has fins and scales. 10But don’t eat anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales. It is not a clean food for you.
11“You may eat any clean bird. 12But don’t eat any of these birds: eagles, vultures, buzzards, 13red kites, falcons, any kind of kite, 14any kind of raven, 15horned owls, screech owls, sea gulls, any kind of hawk, 16little owls, great owls, white owls, 17desert owls, ospreys, cormorants, 18storks, any kind of heron, hoopoes, or bats.
19“All insects with wings are unclean, so don’t eat them. 20But you may eat any clean bird.
21“Don’t eat any animal that has died by itself. You may give the dead animal to the foreigner in your town, and he can eat it. Or you may sell the dead animal to a foreigner. But you yourselves must not eat the dead animal, because you belong to the Lord your God. You are his special people.
“Don’t cook a baby goat in its mother’s milk.
Giving One-Tenth
22“Every year you must be sure to save one-tenth of all the crops that grow in your fields. 23Then you must go to the place the Lord chooses to be the home for his name. You will go there to be with the Lord your God. At that place you will eat the tenth of your crops—one-tenth of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the first animals born in your herds and flocks. In this way you will always remember to respect the Lord your God. 24But that place might be too far for you to travel to. Maybe you will not be able to carry one-tenth of all the crops that the Lord has blessed you with. If that happens, 25sell that part of your crops and take the money with you to the special place the Lord has chosen. 26Use the money to buy anything you want—cattle, sheep, wine or beer or any other food. Then you and your family should eat and enjoy yourselves there in that place with the Lord your God. 27But don’t forget the Levites living in your town. Share your food with them because they don’t have a share of the land like you have.
28“At the end of every three years, you must gather one-tenth of your harvest for that year. Store this food in your towns. 29Keep this food for the Levites, because they don’t have any land of their own. Also keep this food for the foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your towns. This will provide enough for them to come and eat all they want. If you do this, the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Deuteronomy 14
14
Clean and Unclean Food
1“You are #[Isa. 1:2; Hos. 1:10; John 1:12; Rom. 9:8, 26; Gal. 3:26] the sons of the Lord your God. #See Lev. 19:28 You shall not cut yourselves or make any #[Isa. 15:2; 22:12; Ezek. 7:18; Amos 8:10]baldness on your foreheads for the dead. 2For #See ch. 7:6you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
3 #
Ezek. 4:14; [Acts 10:13, 14] “You shall not eat any abomination. 4#For ver. 4-20, see Lev. 11:2-23These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 5the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex,#14:5 Or addax the antelope, and the mountain sheep. 6Every animal that parts the hoof and has the hoof cloven in two and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. 7Yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cloven you shall not eat these: the camel, the hare, and the #Lev. 11:5; [Ps. 104:18; Prov. 30:26]rock badger, because they chew the cud but do not part the hoof, are unclean for you. 8And the pig, because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and #[Lev. 11:26]their carcasses you shall not touch.
9“Of all that are in the waters you may eat these: whatever has fins and scales you may eat. 10And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.
11“You may eat all clean birds. 12But these are the ones that you shall not eat: the eagle,#14:12 The identity of many of these birds is uncertain the bearded vulture, the black vulture, 13the kite, the falcon of any kind; 14every raven of any kind; 15the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk of any kind; 16the little owl and the short-eared owl, the barn owl 17and the tawny owl, the carrion vulture and the cormorant, 18the stork, the heron of any kind; the hoopoe and the bat. 19And all winged insects are unclean for you; they shall not be eaten. 20All clean winged things you may eat.
21 # See Lev. 7:24 “You shall not eat anything that has died naturally. You may give it to the sojourner who is within your towns, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For #See ch. 7:6 you are a people holy to the Lord your God.
# See Ex. 23:19 “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
Tithes
22 # See Num. 18:21 “You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. 23And before the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, #ch. 12:7; 15:20 you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, #ch. 12:6 and the firstborn of your herd and flock, #ch. 4:10; 17:19that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. 24And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the Lord your God blesses you, because #ch. 12:21the place is too far from you, which the Lord your God chooses, to set his name there, 25then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the Lord your God chooses 26and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And #[See ver. 23 above]you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household. 27And you shall not neglect #See ch. 12:19 the Levite who is within your towns, for #See Num. 18:20he has no portion or inheritance with you.
28 # ch. 26:12; [Amos 4:4] “At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in the same year and lay it up within your towns. 29And the Levite, because #[See ver. 27 above] he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your towns, shall come and eat and be filled, that #ch. 15:10; 24:19; Ps. 41:1; Prov. 14:21; 19:17; 22:9; Mal. 3:10the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.
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The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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