Deuteronomy 14

We are people who belong to God our God. Do not gash yourselves or shave the hair on your foreheads when you grieve {like the other people groups do}.

We belong to God alone. God chose us from all the other people groups on the earth to be his special people. \*

Do not eat anything that God detests.

The animals whose meat you may eat are cattle, sheep, goats,

all kinds of deer, gazelles, wild goats, and mountain sheep. \*

Those are animals that have split hooves and that also chew the cud.

But there are other animals that chew the cud that you must not eat. Those are camels, rabbits, and rock badgers. They chew the cud, but they do not have split hooves. So they are not acceptable for you to eat. \*

Do not eat pigs. They are unacceptable for you to eat. They have split hooves, but they do not {chew} the cud. Do not eat the meat of those animals; do not even touch their dead bodies. \*

You may eat any fish that has fins and scales.

But anything else that lives in the water that does not have fins and scales you must not eat. They are unacceptable for you to eat. \*

You may eat the flesh of any bird that is acceptable to God.

But the birds that you may not eat are eagles, large or black vultures,

red kites, falcons, or any kind of kite, \*

any kind of raven,

ostriches, owls, sea gulls, any kind of hawk,

little owls, great owls, white owls,

pelicans, carrion vultures, cormorants, \*

storks, any kind of heron, hoopoes, or bats.

You must not eat any insect with wings and which swarm. They are unacceptable to God for you to eat.

But other insects with wings are acceptable to eat. \*

Do not eat any animal that has died naturally. You may allow foreigners who live among you to eat those things. You may also sell them to other foreigners. But you are a people group that belongs to God our God. You must not cook a young sheep or goat in its mother’s milk. \*

Once each year you must set apart a tenth of all the crops that you gather from your fields.

Take them to the place that God our God will choose for you to worship him. There you must eat the tenth of your grain, your wine, your olive oil, and the meat of the firstborn male animals of your cattle and your sheep. Do this in order that you may learn to always honor God. {He has blessed you by giving you these things.} \*

It could be that the place that God has chosen for you to worship him is very far from your home. As a result, you might not be able to take the tenth of your crops which are a blessing from God.

In that case, you must sell the tenth of your crops for money. Then, wrap the money carefully in a cloth and take it with you to the place of worship that God has chosen. \*

There, with that money, you may buy whatever you want to. It could be beef, lamb, wine, or fermented drinks. There, in the presence of God, you and your families should eat and drink those things and be happy.

But be sure to not neglect to help the descendants of Levi who live in your towns, because they will not own any land. \*

At the end of every three years, bring a tenth of all your crops that you have produced in that year and store it in your towns.

That food will be for the descendants of Levi, because they will not have their own land. That food will also be for the foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your towns. They may come {to where the food is stored} and take what they need. Do that in order that God our God will bless you in everything that you do. \*