Deuteronomy 14

Clean and Unclean Animals

1“You are 1the sons of the Lord your God; 2you shall not cut yourselves nor 3shave your forehead for the sake of the dead. 2For you are 4a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a 5people for His 6own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

3“7You shall not eat any detestable thing. 48These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 59the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep. 6Any animal that divides the hoof and has the hoof split in 10two and 11chews the cud, among the animals, that you may eat. 7Nevertheless, you are not to eat of these among those which 12chew the cud, or among those that divide the hoof in 13two: the camel and the 14rabbit and the 15shaphan, for though they 16chew the cud, they do not divide the hoof; they are unclean for you. 8The pig, because it divides the hoof but does not chew the cud, it is unclean for you. You shall not eat any of their flesh nor touch their carcasses.

9“These you may eat of all that are in water: anything that has fins and scales you may eat, 10but anything that does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

11“You may eat any clean bird. 12But 17these are the ones which you shall not eat: the 18eagle and the vulture and the 19buzzard, 13and the red kite, the falcon, and the kite in their kinds, 14and every raven in its kind, 15and the ostrich, the owl, the sea gull, and the hawk in their kinds, 16the little owl, the 20great owl, the white owl, 17the pelican, the carrion vulture, the cormorant, 18the stork, and the heron in their kinds, and the hoopoe and the bat. 19And all the 21teeming life with wings are unclean to you; they shall not be eaten. 20You may eat any clean bird.

21“22You shall not eat anything which dies of itself. You may give it to the alien who is in your 23town, so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are 24a holy people to the Lord your God. 25You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

22“You 26shall surely tithe all the produce from 27what you sow, which comes out of the field every year. 23You shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God, 28at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may 29learn to fear the Lord your God always. 24If the 30distance is so great for you that you are not able to 31bring the tithe, since the place where the Lord your God chooses 32to set His name is too far away from you when the Lord your God blesses you, 25then you shall 33exchange it for money, and bind the money in your hand and go to the place which the Lord your God chooses. 26You may spend the money for whatever your 34heart desires: for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your 35heart 36desires; and 37there you shall eat in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household. 27Also you shall not neglect 38the Levite who is in your 39town, 40for he has no portion or inheritance among you.

28“41At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year, and shall deposit it in your 42town. 29The Levite, 43because he has no portion or inheritance among you, and 44the alien, the 45orphan and the widow who are in your 46town, shall come and 47eat and be satisfied, in order that 48the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.