Deuteronomy 14

You Are Children of the LORD Your God

1“You are children of the LORD your God. You shall not cut yourselves or make baldness between your eyes for the dead. 2For you are a people holy to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be for him a treasured people from all the peoples who are on the face of the ground.

Animals You May Eat

3“You shall not eat any detestable thing. 4These are the animals that you may eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat; 5the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. 6Every animal that divides the hoof, having the hoof split in two, and chews the cud among the animals, you may eat. 7But these you shall not eat from those that chew the cud or divide the split hoof: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger, for they chew the cud but do not divide the hoof; they are unclean for you. 8And the pig, because it divides the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. You shall not eat their flesh or touch their carcasses.

Creatures from the Water

9“These you may eat from all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales you may eat. 10But whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

Birds You May and May Not Eat

11“Every clean bird you may eat. 12But these are the ones you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, and the black vulture; 13the red kite, the falcon, and the kite according to its kind; 14every raven according to its kind; 15the ostrich, the owl, the gull, and the hawk according to its kind; 16the little owl, the great owl, and the white owl; 17the pelican, the carrion vulture, and the cormorant; 18the stork and the heron according to its kind, the hoopoe, and the bat. 19Every winged swarming thing is unclean for you; they shall not be eaten. 20Every clean flying creature you may eat.

A People Holy to the LORD

21“You shall not eat anything that dies by itself. You may give it to the resident alien who is within your gates so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a people holy to the LORD your God.

You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Tithe the Produce of Your Seed

22“You shall surely tithe all the produce of your seed that comes out from the field year by year. 23You shall eat before the LORD your God, in the place that he will choose to make his name dwell there, the tithe of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God all the days. 24But if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry it because the place that the LORD your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you, when the LORD your God blesses you, 25then you shall turn it into silver, bind the silver in your hand, and go to the place that the LORD your God will choose. 26You may spend the silver for whatever your life desires: cattle, sheep, wine, strong drink, or whatever your life asks of you. You shall eat there before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household. 27And the Levite who is within your gates you shall not abandon, for he has no portion or inheritance with you.

The Tithe of the Third Year

28“At the end of every three years you shall bring out all the tithe of your produce in that year and deposit it within your gates. 29Then the Levite, because he has no portion or inheritance with you, and the resident alien, the orphan, and the widow who are within your gates shall come and eat and be satisfied, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand that you do.