Deuteronomy 14

Complete Jewish Bible

14 (iv) “You are the people of Adonai your God. You are not to gash yourselves or shave the hair above your foreheads in mourning for the dead, ² because you are a people set apart as holy for Adonai your God. Adonai your God has chosen you to be his own unique treasure out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

³ “You are not to eat anything disgusting. ⁴ The animals which you may eat are: ox, sheep, goat, ⁵ deer, gazelle, roebuck, ibex, antelope, oryx and mountain sheep. ⁶ Any animal that has a separate hoof that is completely divided and also chews the cud, these animals you may eat. ⁷ But you are not to eat those that only chew the cud or only have a divided hoof. For example, the camel, the hare and the coney are unclean for you because they chew the cud but don’t have a separate hoof; ⁸ while the pig is unclean for you because, although it has a separate hoof, it doesn’t chew the cud. You are not to eat meat from these or touch their carcasses.

⁹ “Of all that lives in the water, you may eat these: anything in the water that has fins and scales, these you may eat. ¹⁰ But whatever lacks fins and scales you are not to eat; it is unclean for you.

¹¹ “You may eat any clean bird; ¹² but these you are not to eat: eagles, vultures, ospreys, ¹³ kites, any kind of buzzard, ¹⁴ any kind of raven, ¹⁵ ostriches, screech-owls, seagulls, any kind of hawk, ¹⁶ little owls, great owls, horned owls, ¹⁷ pelicans, barn owls, cormorants, ¹⁸ storks, any kind of heron, hoopoes and bats.

¹⁹ “All winged swarming creatures are unclean for you; they are not to be eaten; ²⁰ but all clean flying creatures you may eat.

²¹ “You are not to eat any animal that dies naturally; although you may let a stranger staying with you eat it, or sell it to a foreigner; because you are a holy people for Adonai your God.

“You are not to boil a young animal in its mother’s milk.

(v) ²² “Every year you must take one tenth of everything your seed produces in the field, ²³ and eat it in the presence of Adonai your God. In the place where he chooses to have his name live you will eat the tenth of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the firstborn of your cattle and sheep, so that you will learn to fear Adonai your God always. ²⁴ But if the distance is too great for you, so that you are unable to transport it, because the place where Adonai chooses to put his name is too far away from you; then, when Adonai your God prospers you, ²⁵ you are to convert it into money, take the money with you, go to the place which Adonai your God will choose, ²⁶ and exchange the money for anything you want — cattle, sheep, wine, other intoxicating liquor, or anything you please — and you are to eat there in the presence of Adonai your God, and enjoy yourselves, you and your household.

²⁷ “But don’t neglect the Levi staying with you, because he has no share or inheritance like yours. ²⁸ At the end of every three years you are to take all the tenths of your produce from that year and store it in your towns. ²⁹ Then the Levi, because he has no share or inheritance like yours, along with the foreigner, the orphan and the widow living in your towns, will come, eat and be satisfied — so that Adonai your God will bless you in everything your hands produce.