The Fifth Book of Moses: Deuteronomy

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- Chapter 14 -

(Leviticus 11:1–47; Acts 10:9–16)

“Be sons of the Lord your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make yourselves bald, because of the dead.

For you are a holy people, for the Lord your God. And he chose you, so that you may be a people particularly his, out of all the nations on earth.

You shall not eat the things that are unclean.(a)

These are the animals which you ought to eat: the ox, and the sheep, and the goat,

the stag and the roe deer, the gazelle, the wild goat, the addax, the antelope, the giraffe.(b)

Every beast which has a hoof divided into two parts and which also chews the cud, you shall eat.

But those which chew over again, but do not have a divided hoof, you must not eat, such as the camel, the hare, and the hyrax. Since these chew the cud, but do not have a divided the hoof, they shall be unclean to you.

The pig also, since it has a divided hoof, but does not chew over again, shall be unclean. Their flesh shall not be eaten, and you shall not touch their carcasses.

These you shall eat out of all that dwells in the waters: whatever has fins and scales, you shall eat.

Whatever is without fins and scales, you shall not eat, for these are unclean.

All the clean birds, you shall eat.

You shall not eat those that are unclean: such as the eagle, and the griffin, and the osprey,

the crane, and the vulture, and the kite, according to their kind,

and any kind of raven,

and the ostrich, and the owl, and the gull, and the hawk, according to their kind,

the heron, and the swan, and the ibis,

and the sea bird, the marsh hen, and the night raven,

the pelican and the plover, each in their kind, likewise the crested hoopoe and the bat.(c)

And anything which crawls and also has little wings shall be unclean, and shall not be eaten.

All that is clean, you shall eat.

But whatever has died of itself, you shall not eat from it. Give it to the sojourner, who is within your gates, so that he may eat, or sell it to him. For you are the holy people of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in the milk of his mother.

Giving Tithes

(Leviticus 27:30–34; Deuteronomy 26:1–15; Nehemiah 13:10–14)

Each year, you shall separate the tithes out of all your crops which spring forth from the earth.

And you shall eat these in the sight of the Lord your God, in the place which he will choose, so that his name may be invoked there: the tenth part of your grain and wine and oil, and the firstborn from the herds and your sheep. So may you learn to fear the Lord your God at all times.

But when the way and the place which the Lord your God will have chosen is further away, and he will have blessed you, so that you are not able to carry all these things to it,

you shall sell them all, so as to turn them into money, and you shall carry it in your hand, and you shall set out for the place which the Lord will choose.

And you shall buy with the same money whatever pleases you, either from the herds or from the sheep, and also wine and liquor, and all that your soul desires. And you shall eat in the sight of the Lord your God, and you shall feast: you and your household.

As for the Levite, who is within your gates, take care that you do not abandon him, for he has no other portion within your possession.

In the third year, you shall separate another tenth part of all the things which spring forth for you at that time, and you shall store it within your gates.

And the Levite, who has no other portion or possession with you, and the sojourner as well as the orphan and the widow who are within your gates, shall approach and eat and be satisfied, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the works of your hands which you shall do.”

Footnotes

(a)14:3 Unclean:See the annotations on Lev. 11.(Challoner)

(b)14:5 The exact identity of all the animals in this passage is not clear. The ancients did not categorize animals by species, as we do, but by appearance. (The same is true for birds, fish, plants, and gem stones.) The male and female deer are listed separately because they are very different in appearances. Both the domesticated goat and the wild goat are listed so that it is clear that both wild and domesticated forms of any animal are acceptable. The giraffe is a kosher animal, as are all the animals in the list of this verse. The giraffe is listed as an example of the limits of the range of animals which could be eaten. So the list is a partial list of examples, not an exhaustive list. But in such partial lists, it is helpful to have examples from the full range, i.e. some common examples of kosher animals (sheep) and also much less common examples. At the far end of this set of examples is the giraffe, listed not so as to encourage the Israelites to hunt and eat giraffe, but so as to show how broad the range is of kosher animals.(Conte)

(c)14:18 Bats are categorized with birds because they all fly. This is not an error; it is merely a different, and very practical, way of categorizing animals.(Conte)

(Leviticus 11:1–47; Acts 10:9–16)

You are the children of the LORD your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.

For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.

You shall not eat any abominable thing.

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

the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the chamois.

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

Nevertheless these you shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of those who have the hoof split: the camel, the hare, and the rabbit. Because they chew the cud but don’t part the hoof, they are unclean to you.

The pig, because it has a split hoof but doesn’t chew the cud, is unclean to you. You shall not eat their meat. You shall not touch their carcasses.

These you may eat of all that are in the waters: you may eat whatever has fins and scales.

You shall not eat whatever doesn’t have fins and scales. It is unclean to you.

Of all clean birds you may eat.

But these are they of which you shall not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey,

the red kite, the falcon, the kite of any kind,

every raven of any kind,

the ostrich, the owl, the seagull, the hawk of any kind,

the little owl, the great owl, the horned owl,

the pelican, the vulture, the cormorant,

the stork, the heron after its kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.

All winged creeping things are unclean to you. They shall not be eaten.

Of all clean birds you may eat.

You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself. You may give it to the foreigner living among you who is within your gates, that he may eat it; or you may sell it to a foreigner; for you are a holy people to the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Giving Tithes

(Leviticus 27:30–34; Deuteronomy 26:1–15; Nehemiah 13:10–14)

You shall surely tithe all the increase of your seed, that which comes out of the field year by year.

You shall eat before the LORD your God, in the place which he chooses to cause his name to dwell, the tithe of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock; that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.

If the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry it because the place which the LORD your God shall choose to set his name there is too far from you, when the LORD your God blesses you,

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

You shall trade the money for whatever your soul desires: for cattle, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever your soul asks of you. You shall eat there before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.

You shall not forsake the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no portion nor inheritance with you.

At the end of every three years you shall bring all the tithe of your increase in the same year, and shall store it within your gates.

The Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, as well as the foreigner living among you, the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.