Deuteronomy 14

Clean and unclean animals

1You are children of Yahweh your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your head for the dead, 2for you are a people holy to Yahweh your God, and Yahweh has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his treasured people. 3Do not eat anything detestable. 4These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 5the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. 6You may eat any animal that has a split hoof divided into two parts and that chews the cud. 7But among those that chew the cud or have a split hoof, you must not eat these: the camel, the hare, and the rock hyrax, because they chew the cud but do not have a split hoof — they are unclean for you. 8And the pig, because it has a split hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. Do not eat its meat or touch its carcass. 9Of everything that lives in the water, you may eat anything that has fins and scales. 10But anything without fins and scales you must not eat; it is unclean for you. 11You may eat any clean bird. 12But these you must not eat: the eagle, the bearded vulture, the black vulture, 13the kite, the falcon, and any kind of buzzard, 14any kind of raven, 15the ostrich, the nighthawk, the gull, and any kind of hawk, 16the little owl, the great owl, the white owl, 17the desert owl, the osprey, the cormorant, 18the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat. 19All winged swarming creatures are unclean for you; they are not to be eaten. 20You may eat any clean flying creature. 21You must not eat anything that has died naturally. You may give it to the foreigner within your gates to eat, or sell it to a stranger, for you are a people holy to Yahweh your God. Do not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

The tithe eaten before Yahweh

22Be sure to set aside a tenth of all the produce that comes from what you sow, from the field, year after year. 23Eat it before Yahweh your God, in the place he chooses for his name to dwell — the tithe of your grain, new wine, and oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock — so that you may learn to fear Yahweh your God always. 24But if the distance is too great for you to carry it, because the place Yahweh your God chooses for his name is too far from you, when Yahweh your God has blessed you, 25then exchange it for silver, take the silver in your hand, and go to the place Yahweh your God chooses. 26Spend the silver on anything you wish — cattle, sheep, wine, strong drink, anything you desire — and eat there before Yahweh your God and rejoice, you and your household. 27And do not neglect the Levite within your gates, since he has no portion or inheritance among you.

The third-year tithe for the needy

28At the end of every third year, bring out the whole tithe of that year’s produce and store it within your gates. 29Then the Levite, who has no portion or inheritance among you, and the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow within your gates may come and eat their fill, so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.