5.Mose 14 | New International Reader’s Version

‘Clean’ and ‘unclean’ food

1 You are the children of the LORD your God. Don’t cut yourselves to honour the dead. Don’t shave the front of your heads to honour the dead.

2 You are a holy nation. The LORD your God has set you apart for himself. He has chosen you to be his special treasure. He chose you out of all the nations on the face of the earth.

3 Don’t eat anything the LORD hates.

4 Here are the only animals you can eat. You can eat oxen, sheep, goats,

5 deer, gazelles, roe deer, wild goats, ibexes, antelope and mountain sheep.

6 You can eat any animal that has a divided hoof. But it must also chew the cud.

7 Some animals only chew the cud. Others only have a divided hoof. The camel, rabbit and rock badger chew the cud, but they don’t have a divided hoof. So you can’t eat them. They are not ‘clean’ for you.

8 Pigs aren’t ‘clean’ for you either. They have a divided hoof, but they don’t chew the cud. So don’t eat their meat. And don’t touch their dead bodies.

9 Many creatures live in water. You can eat all the ones that have fins and scales.

10 But don’t eat anything that doesn’t have fins and scales. It isn’t ‘clean’ for you.

11 You can eat any ‘clean’ bird.

12 But there are many birds you can’t eat. They include eagles, vultures, and black vultures.

13 They include red kites, black kites and all kinds of falcons.

14 They include all kinds of ravens.

15 They include horned owls, screech owls, gulls and all kinds of hawks.

16 They include little owls, great owls, white owls

17 and desert owls. They include ospreys and cormorants.

18 They include storks and all kinds of herons. They also include hoopoes and bats.

19 All flying insects are ‘unclean’ for you. So don’t eat them.

20 But you can eat any creature that has wings and is ‘clean’.

21 If you find something that’s already dead, don’t eat it. You can give it to an outsider living in any of your towns. They may eat it. Or you can sell it to someone from another country. But you are a holy nation. The LORD your God has set you apart for himself. Don’t cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Give a tenth of what you produce

22 Be sure to set apart a tenth of everything your fields produce each year.

23 Here are the things you should eat in the sight of the LORD your God. You should eat a tenth part of your corn, olive oil and fresh wine. You should also eat the male animals among your livestock that were born first to their mothers. Eat all these things at the special place the LORD your God will choose. He will put his Name there. You will learn to honour him always.

24 But suppose the place the LORD will choose for his Name is too far away from you. And suppose your God has blessed you. And your tenth part is too heavy for you to carry.

25 Then sell it for silver. Take the silver with you. Go to the place the LORD your God will choose.

26 Use the silver to buy anything you like. It can be cattle or sheep. It can be any kind of wine. In fact, it can be anything else you wish. Then you and your family can eat there in the sight of the LORD your God. You can be filled with joy.

27 Don’t forget to take care of the Levites who will live in your towns. They won’t receive any part of the land as their share.

28 At the end of every three years, bring a tenth of everything you produce that year. Store it in your towns.

29 Then the Levites can come and eat. That’s because they won’t receive any part of the land as their share. The outsiders and widows who live in your towns can come. So can the children whose fathers have died. Everyone can have plenty to eat. Then the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do.

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English Standard Version

Clean and Unclean Food

1 “You are the sons of the Lord your God. You shall not cut yourselves or make any baldness on your foreheads for the dead.

2 For you 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 “You shall not eat any abomination.

4 These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat,

5 the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex,* the antelope, and the mountain sheep.

6 Every animal that parts the hoof and has the hoof cloven in two and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat.

7 Yet of those that chew the cud or have the hoof cloven you shall not eat these: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger, because they chew the cud but do not part the hoof, are unclean for you.

8 And the pig, because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and 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.

10 And whatever does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean for you.

11 “You may eat all clean birds.

12 But these are the ones that you shall not eat: the eagle,* the bearded vulture, the black vulture,

13 the kite, the falcon of any kind;

14 every raven of any kind;

15 the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk of any kind;

16 the little owl and the short-eared owl, the barn owl

17 and the tawny owl, the carrion vulture and the cormorant,

18 the stork, the heron of any kind; the hoopoe and the bat.

19 And all winged insects are unclean for you; they shall not be eaten.

20 All clean winged things you may eat.

21 “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 you are a people holy to the Lord your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Tithes

22 “You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year.

23 And before the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.

24 And 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 the place is too far from you, which the Lord your God chooses, to set his name there,

25 then 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

26 and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household.

27 And you shall not neglect the Levite who is within your towns, for he has no portion or inheritance with you.

28 “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.

29 And the Levite, because 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 the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.

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