THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY

 

Deuteronomy Chapter 14

1 ¶ You are the children of the LORD your God: you shall not cut yourselves, or shave your forehead for the dead.

2 For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a peculiar people for himself, above all the nations that are on the earth.

3 You shall not eat any detestable thing.

4 These are the beasts which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat,

5 The hart, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep.

6 Every animal that parts the hoof, and has it divided into two, and chews the cud among the animals, you may eat.

7 But of those that chew the cud, or divide the hoof; you shall not eat the camel, the hare, and the coney: because they chew the cud, but do not divide not the hoof; therefore they are unclean to you.

8 And the swine, because it divides the hoof, yet does not chew the cud, is unclean to you: you shall not eat their flesh, or touch their dead bodies.

9 Of all creatures that live in the waters you may eat those that have fins and scales:

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

11 You may eat any of the clean birds.

12 But these are the flying creatures which you shall not eat: the eagle, the bearded vulture, and the black vulture,

13 The kite, and various kinds of falcon,

14 Every kind of raven,

15 The ostrich, the short-eared owl, the gull, and any kind of hawk,

16 The little owl, the great owl, and the water hen,

17 The pelican, the osprey, and the cormorant,

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

19 And all flying insects are unclean to you: they shall not be eaten.

20 But you may eat any of the clean fowls.

21 You shall not eat any thing that dies of itself: you may give it to the foreigner that is living among you, and he may eat it; or you may sell it to an alien: for you are a holy people to the LORD your God. You shall not boil a baby goat in its mother’s milk.

22 ¶ You shall surely tithe all the yield of your seed, that your field brings forth each year.

23 And in the place where the LORD your God shall choose to place his name, there before him you shall eat the tithe of your corn, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herds and of your flocks; that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.

24 And if the distance is too far for you to carry your tithe there; or if the place where the LORD your God chooses to set his name is too far away for you, when the LORD your God has blessed you:

25 Then you shall turn it into money, and bind up the money in your hand, and shall go to the place which the LORD your God shall choose:

26 And you may spend that money for whatever you desire, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever your soul desires: and you shall eat it there before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you, and your household,

27 And you shall not forsake 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 the entire tithe of your increase for that year, and shall lay it up within your towns:

29 And the Levite, (because he has no part or inheritance with you,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are in your towns, shall come, and eat and be satisfied; that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands that you do.