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Deuteronomy 14
EasyEnglish Bible
Deuteronomy 14
EasyEnglish Bible
Rules about food
14 You are people who belong to the Lord your God. When someone dies, you are sad. But do not cut your bodies. Do not cut off all the hair from the front of your head.[a]
2 You are the Lord's own special people. He has chosen you to belong to him. You are much more valuable to him than any other people in the whole earth.
3 Do not eat anything that God says is unclean. 4 You may eat the meat of these animals: cows, sheep, goats, 5 deer, wild goats, mountain goats, antelopes and wild sheep. 6 You may eat any animal with feet that have two separate parts. They must also bring their food back into their mouths and eat it again.[b]
7 But you must not eat these animals: camels, wild rabbits and rock badgers. They eat their food a second time, but they do not have feet with two separate parts. For this reason they are unclean food for you. 8 You may not eat pigs, either. They have feet in two parts but they do not eat their food a second time. You must not eat any meat from these animals. You must not even touch their dead bodies.
9 You may eat any fish that has fins and scales.[c] 10 But other things that live in the water do not have fins or scales. Those are not clean food for you. Do not eat them.
11 You may eat any clean bird. 12-18 But these birds you must not eat: eagles, vultures, kites, owls, hawks, falcons, buzzards, ostriches, seagulls, storks, herons, pelicans, cormorants, hoopoes and bats.[d]
19 Some insects have wings but they walk on the ground. Insects like that are unclean food for you. You must not eat them. 20 But you may eat any clean insect that has wings.
21 You must not eat anything that you find dead already. You may give it to a foreign person who lives in any of your towns. He may eat it. You may give it to him or sell it to him. But you yourselves are special people who belong to the Lord your God.
You must not cook a young goat in the milk from its mother.
Regular gifts to the Lord
22 You must keep safe a tenth part of all the crops that grow in your fields. You must be careful to do this every year. 23 Then take your tithe to the place that the Lord your God will choose as his special home. It will be a tenth part of your grain, your new wine, your olive oil and the firstborn animals from your cows, sheep and goats. Eat them there, at the Lord's special home. Then you will learn to respect the Lord your God always.
24 But the Lord's special place may be a long way from your home. If he has blessed you with a lot of things, they may be too heavy for you to carry all that way. 25 If that is true, you may sell your tithe. Then you may take the money carefully to the place that the Lord your God will choose. 26 When you arrive there, you can use the money to buy any food that you choose: cows, sheep, wine, beer or anything else. Then you and your family should eat it there. You should enjoy your time together at the Lord's special home. 27 Do not forget to help the Levites who live in your towns. Remember that they have not received any land as you have.
28 Every third year, take the tithe of the food that you have grown in your fields that year. Store it in your town or your village. 29 Keep this food for the Levites, who have no land of their own. It is also for the foreign people, the widows, and the children who have no family. These people in your town can eat as much as they want. If you do that, the Lord your God will bless you in all your work.
Footnotes
- 14:1 People from other nations would cut their bodies or their hair when their friends died.
- 14:6 All the animals in verses 4 and 5 have feet that grow in two parts. They also bring their food back into their mouths and eat it again. God said that these were ‘clean’ animals. That means that the Israelites could eat them.
- 14:9 Most fish have fins and scales on their bodies. They use their fins when they are swimming. The scales are hard pieces of skin that cover the fish's body.
- 14:12-18 These birds eat dirty pieces of dead animals as their food. We do not have the exact names in English for all these birds.
Deuteronomy 14
New International Version
Deuteronomy 14
New International Version
Clean and Unclean Food(A)
14 You are the children(B) of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead, 2 for you are a people holy(C) to the Lord your God.(D) Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession.(E)
3 Do not eat any detestable thing.(F) 4 These are the animals you may eat:(G) the ox, the sheep, the goat,(H) 5 the deer,(I) the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat,(J) the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep.[a] 6 You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud. 7 However, of those that chew the cud or that have a divided hoof you may not eat the camel, the rabbit or the hyrax. Although they chew the cud, they do not have a divided hoof; they are ceremonially unclean for you. 8 The pig is also unclean; although it has a divided hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses.(K)
9 Of all the creatures living in the water, you may eat any that has fins and scales. 10 But anything that does not have fins and scales you may not eat; for you it is unclean.
11 You may eat any clean bird. 12 But these you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, 13 the red kite, the black kite, any kind(L) of falcon,(M) 14 any kind of raven,(N) 15 the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, 16 the little owl, the great owl, the white owl, 17 the desert owl,(O) the osprey, the cormorant, 18 the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.
19 All flying insects are unclean to you; do not eat them. 20 But any winged creature that is clean you may eat.(P)
21 Do not eat anything you find already dead.(Q) You may give it to the foreigner residing in any of your towns, and they may eat it, or you may sell it to any other foreigner. But you are a people holy to the Lord your God.(R)
Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.(S)
Tithes
22 Be sure to set aside a tenth(T) of all that your fields produce each year. 23 Eat(U) the tithe of your grain, new wine(V) and olive oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name,(W) so that you may learn(X) to revere(Y) the Lord your God always. 24 But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the Lord your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the Lord will choose to put his Name is so far away), 25 then exchange(Z) your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the Lord your God will choose. 26 Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink,(AA) or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice.(AB) 27 And do not neglect the Levites(AC) living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.(AD)
28 At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes(AE) of that year’s produce and store it in your towns,(AF) 29 so that the Levites (who have no allotment(AG) or inheritance(AH) of their own) and the foreigners,(AI) the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied,(AJ) and so that the Lord your God may bless(AK) you in all the work of your hands.
Footnotes
- Deuteronomy 14:5 The precise identification of some of the birds and animals in this chapter is uncertain.
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