Deuteronomy 14:1-29
Clean and Unclean Food
1 You are the children of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead, 2 for you are a people holy to the Lord your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession.
3 Do not eat any detestable thing. 4 These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 5 the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep.[a] 6 You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud. 7 However, of those that chew the cud or that have a divided hoof you may not eat the camel, the rabbit or the hyrax. Although they chew the cud, they do not have a divided hoof; they are ceremonially unclean for you. 8 The pig is also unclean; although it has a divided hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses.
9 Of all the creatures living in the water, you may eat any that has fins and scales. 10 But anything that does not have fins and scales you may not eat; for you it is unclean.
11 You may eat any clean bird. 12 But these you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, 13 the red kite, the black kite, any kind of falcon, 14 any kind of raven, 15 the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, 16 the little owl, the great owl, the white owl, 17 the desert owl, the osprey, the cormorant, 18 the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.
19 All flying insects are unclean to you; do not eat them. 20 But any winged creature that is clean you may eat.
21 Do not eat anything you find already dead. You may give it to the foreigner residing in any of your towns, and they may eat it, or you may sell it to any other foreigner. But you are a people holy to the Lord your God.
Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.
22 Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. 23 Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the Lord your God always. 24 But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the Lord your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the Lord will choose to put his Name is so far away), 25 then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose. 26 Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice. 27 And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.
28 At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, 29 so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
The people of Israel are the children of the LORD...When someone dies, they were not to cut themselves or shave your heads to show their sadness...This was because God's people are different from other people...They belong to the LORD...From all the people in the world, the LORD chose them to be his own special people...
The people of Israel were not to eat anything that the LORD hates...They could eat these animals: cattle, sheep, goats, deer, gazelles, roe deer, wild sheep, wild goats, antelopes, and mountain sheep...They could eat any animal that has hooves divided into two parts and that chews the cud...But they could not 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...And they must not eat pigs...Their hooves are divided, but they don’t chew the cud...So pigs are not a clean food for them...They were not to eat any meat from pigs...They were not even to touch a pig’s dead body...They could eat any kind of fish that has fins and scales...But they could not eat anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales...That was not a clean food for then...They could eat any clean bird...But they could not eat any of these birds: eagles, vultures, buzzards, red kites, falcons, any kind of kite, any kind of raven, horned owls, screech owls, sea gulls, any kind of hawk, little owls, great owls, white owls, desert owls, ospreys, cormorants, storks, any kind of heron, hoopoes, or bats...And any insect with wings are unclean, so they could not eat them...But they could may eat any clean bird...They could not eat any animal that had died by itself...They could give the dead animal to the foreigner in their town, and he could eat it... Or they could sell the dead animal to a foreigner...But they could not eat the dead animal, because they belong to the LORD...And they were not to cook a baby goat in its mother’s milk....
They were to give and save one-tenth of all the crops that grow in their fields...And they must go to the place the LORD chooses to be the home to be with the LORD...At that place they could eat the tenth of your crops—one-tenth of their grain, their new wine, their oil, and their first animals born in their herds and flocks...In this way you will always remember to respect the Lord...If that place be too far for them to travel to....They could sell their crops or what they had and turn it into silver or money...If they did that they could take the money with them to the special place the LORD had chosen...And they could use the money to buy anything you want—cattle, sheep, wine or beer or any other food...Then they and their family could eat and enjoy yourselves there in that place with the LORD...And they were not to the Levites living in their town...They were to share their food with the Levites because they don’t have a share of the land like the people had...And at the end of every three years, they were to gather one-tenth of your harvest for that year...They were to store this food in their towns....They were to keep this food for the Levites, because they did not have any land of their own...Also they were to keep this food for the foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in their towns to help them...This would provide enough for them to come and eat all they want...If they would do this, the LORD would bless them in everything they did...